Burdened with diabetes and hypertension, Americans are looking at alternate forms of medicine, other than anti-depressant pills, says Minal Vazirani, a US-based doctor of internal medicine.

Vazirani, who is in the city for the second time to study ayurveda and its clinical applications, is anxious at the increasing number of people, particularly men, coming to her clinic seeking anti-depressants for relieving stress.

Vazirani, along with eight other doctors from other countries, has been attending an advanced course on integrative ayurveda, from January 5-15, at Tilak Ayurved college.

“People are tired of taking pills all the time. They are seeking an alternative,” she said.

Kalin Davidov, a yoga teacher from Bulgaria, who is also attending the course said, “People suffer from a great deal of anxiety and they are now seeking a natural way to sleep without the help of medicines.”

Vazirani and other US doctors from Mayo Clinic and State University of New York will also be undergoing training at Seth Tarachand Charitable Hospital to learn how ayurveda is administered to patients.

Dr Tanuja Nesari, course coordinator and Head of the Department of Ayurvedic Pharmacology at the Tilak Ayurved College, told The Indian Express that this was the first time that clinical applications of ayurveda was taught. “Every morning we take the participants of the course to Tarachand hospital and take them to patients whose diseases, like asthma, gastroenteritis and diabetes have been completely cured by ayurvedic treatment,” she said.

The Indian Government had sent two ayurvedic experts, Dr Hanmanthrao Palep from Mumbai and Dr Tanuja Nesari from Pune, on a six-week trip to the US last year. Ayurveda is becoming a popular practice in the mainstream US medical education that students, residents, faculty members and practicing physicians from various US medical schools attended the 12-hour-long course conducted by them.