Dealing with the Fear and Social Stigma of the Pandemic: Medley of Preventive Healthcare Practices in India

Abstract

Modern medicine essentially arose as a response to the Industrial Revolution and the new kinds of microbes/viruses associated with it. With the mass movement of people to cities, the focus of medical systems was on tracking disease spread and rapid ways to contain it. This resulted in a changed approach towards health and medicine. Gradually it led to the hegemony of what will be referred to as modern (allopathic) systems of medicine (as against the traditional systems). Despite the age old traditional systems of medicine, bio-medicine became the predominant system of knowledge and practice, with its scientific empirical researches, its larger than life healthcare professionals, hospital systems and sophisticated marketing techniques. Traditional/indigenous systems of medicine, although continued to exist in some parts of the world, became the alternative systems. The focus was now on cure rather than prevention. With the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding quickly, the focus in India shifted once again to prevention and a more holistic approach to health. Being restricted at home due to the lockdown, the kitchen once again became the pharmacy, and an attempt was made towards a healthy lifestyle. The fear created by the pandemic and the social stigma that got attached to being sick (infected by the virus) changed the worldview of health and illness. As the conspiracy theories around the pandemic did the rounds, the fear of the disease became paramount. The vulnerable or potential patient became the enemy, the other. The fear not only of the disease but the associated consequences prompted the masses to combine multiple therapy systems. With no vaccine or cure for the novel coronavirus and millions infected, people turned yet again towards preventive health care. The paper focuses on how, in the absence of any system of medicine to dispel the fears around the pandemic, people resort to a mix of healthcare systems (without necessarily understanding their body of knowledge). It also focuses on current, popular perceptions of medicine, to understand whether the ‘new normal’ will be a medley of elements towards a holistic healthcare regime.

The paper arises out of a subjective engagement with the pandemic as I was a part of the crises, on a more personal basis, as a family member of healthcare professionals who performed relentlessly through the COVID-19 and at professional level as a sociologist engaged in the understanding of this new social phenomenon on the basis of the social media trends, informed conversations with students, colleagues, healthcare professionals, migrant workers and their family members. And at attempting to place this within the context of the course on the Sociology of Health and Medicine which I was teaching at that time.