- 46.3% of rural and 52.9% of urban Indians used AYUSH or a home remedy in the past year[1]; doctors rarely know.
- 1Heath records what a patient takes from every system, in the patient's own words.
- Ayurvedic units, anupana and homeopathic potencies are kept exactly as said.
- 1Heath never ranks a system and never tells a patient to stop or start a medicine.
The Systems Indians Use
| System | What it is | What a record must keep |
|---|---|---|
| Allopathy (modern medicine) | Brand and generic medicines, dosed by strength and schedule | Brand as prescribed, generic name, strength, dose, frequency, duration |
| Ayurveda | Classical formulations such as churna, kashayam, arishta, bhasma | Traditional dose unit, anupana (the vehicle it is taken with), timing relative to food |
| Homeopathy | Remedies prepared at a potency | Remedy name as in the pharmacopoeia and the exact potency (30C, 200, 1M, Q) |
| Unani and Siddha | Classical systems with their own formularies | Formulation name and dose as said |
| Home remedies | Kadha, herbal teas, supplements | What it is and how often, in the patient's words |
How Many People Use Them
Why the Doctor Needs to Know
Most AYUSH use is not a problem. The problem is that the doctor does not know about it, so cannot check it against what they are about to prescribe. Three kinds of risk matter:
- Interactions. Some herbs change how modern drugs act; blood thinners and diabetes medicines are the classic examples.
- Organ injury. In one Indian case series, single-ingredient ashwagandha products caused liver injury in 8 patients; 3 died, all of whom had underlying liver disease[2].
- Hidden ingredients. Some preparations contain metals or undeclared drugs. 1Heath flags preparations whose official formula lists metals or minerals.
How 1Heath Handles It
Phase 1: "Also Taking"
For every patient, a list of everything they take from every system, in their own words: "amma ichina kashayam", "Thyronorm", "sugar-ki desi dawa". Where the official pharmacopoeia lists ingredients, they are shown. Known herb–drug interactions show as a warning to the doctor, never as advice to the patient.
Phase 2: AYUSH Doctors and Pharmacies
The same Doctor app, with case fields from the Ministry of AYUSH's case-record format for Ayurvedic doctors (Ashtavidha Pariksha, Dashavidha Pariksha, Samprapti), and remedy and potency for homeopathic doctors. Every field is optional and filled only when said.
Catalogue and Coding
The demo catalogue holds 1,027 Ayurvedic formulations from the Ayurvedic Formulary of India and the AYUSH essential list, and 1,117 homeopathic remedies from the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia of India. For a pilot, 1Heath will move to national standards: the SNOMED CT India AYUSH Extension maintained by NRCeS[3], NAMASTE terms, and the WHO ICD-11 traditional medicine chapter, which covers Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani but not yet homeopathy.
Cross-System Prescribing
A doctor prescribing outside their own system sees a warning to acknowledge, not a block, because the law on cross-system practice varies and the decision belongs to the doctor.
Neutrality Rules
- 1
1Heath never ranks or endorses a system of medicine.
- 2
It never tells a patient to stop or start a medicine; only the doctor does.
- 3
It shows evidence and official formulae, and labels what is unknown as unknown.
Sources
- Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Press note: Survey on Ayush, NSS 79th round (July 2022 to June 2023), 13 June 2024. mospi.gov.in
- Ashwagandha-induced liver injury: a case series from India and literature review. Hepatology Communications, 2023;7(10). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- NRCeS. SNOMED CT India AYUSH Extension release notes, 29 June 2026. nrces.in