A five-day-long Sixth Kalinga Herbal Fair Odisha (2013-14) under the popular slogan “Healing Herbs for All” is being organised jointly by DFO, Brahmapur and the State Medical Plants Board, Odisha from January 8 to 12 here at the City High School ground.
The fair remains open to public from 10 am to 9.30 pm. A large number of organisations have opened their exhibition-cum- sales counters of ayurvedic medicines by traditional healers, Vaidyasala on spot healing, showcasing of raw herbal products and most valuable medicinal plants.
The fair has also featured a buyer-seller meet and Vaidyas’ conference and workshop for wider interaction and participation by specialists. More than 50 stalls from 13 districts with a wide spectrum of ayurvedic medicines have participated in the event.
Inaugurating the festival, RDC (Southern Division) Bikas Chandra Mahapatra said ayurveda, which was the most trusted medicine during ancient time, still holds confidence and trust among people even though it takes a longer period to cure the patient. To gain short-term confidence of the public and profit, some ayurvedic firms are adding steroid in different ayurvedic medicines which should be prevented as it is dangerous for health, he cautioned.
The manufacturing firms and individual physicians should prepare most qualitative, cost-effective ayurvedic medicines without having any side effects to health to gain the confidence of patients, he added.
Guest of honour on the occasion, Brahmapur DIG (Police) Amitabh Thakur said that for survival of ayurvedic medicines, the manufacturing firms and individuals need to be provided necessary assistance and encouragement both at the Government and private levels which in turn can check the speedy decline of this most useful and traditional form of medicine.
While the DFO Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra presided over the meeting, local MlA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Pattnaik was another guest of honour. Among others, Gopalpur MlA Dr Pradip Kumar Panigrahi, Prof Bauribandhu Sahu, Prof PSN Patra and Assistant Conservation Officer Trinath Pattnaik were present.