A two-day seminar-cum-workshop was organised by the Pharma division of Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Technology and Science. The topic was ‘Ethnopharmacology and Drug Discovery-Perspectives and Challenges.’
The seminar began on Friday. On the first day, there was a field visit of the hill forests for practical exposure in which the team of Pharma division of the institute, that included 35 students, both males and females, along with assistant professors Yogender Bahuguna and Chandrashekhar, went to the hill forest areas of Mussoorie, Dhanolti, and Eco Park near Dhanolti. They were accompanied by Harsh Naithani, eminent Taxonomist from F.R.I. and Deoprasad Chattopadhyay, deputy director, Indian Council for Medical Research (Virus Unit), Kolkata.
These two specialists taught the students and the faculty to identify the medicinal plants in their wild habitats and explained their medicinal values, properties, method of cultivating them and even to convert them into medicines. Naithani explained how the plants can be used to treat deadly diseases, which are even now considered to be not treatable.
The second day of the seminar cum workshop, held on Saturday, a seminar of SGRR Institute of Medical & Health Sciences was organised. It was initiated by the chief guest Rajendra Dobhal, director general, Uttarakhand Council of Science & Technology.
Dobhal, in his address, stressed on the utmost need for comprehensive research in the fields of use, need and impact of herbs before these herbs are used for medicinal purposes. He said after the fruitful researches, so many reputed hospital and medical centres would provide recognition to the herbs for being used during treatment. He said that there is a need of such exclusive hospitals, where herbs identified on scientific and technical parameters can be used for the treatment of patients. He said that the foreign countries have already recognised Indian herbs as proper medicines for treatment, and we are still far behind in this.
AN Purohit, former Vice Chancellor and Director of High Altitude Plant Physiology Research Centre of HNB Garhwal University, in his address, clearly explained the definition of medicinal plants. He explained that there is a lot of difference between the indigenous medicines and the documented medicines. He explained that indigenous medicines are those which are not documented and their knowledge passes from generation to generation by word of mouth. He said that
Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathic medicines must not be confused with the indigenous medicines because these all are well- documented. He also emphasised that precious Indian herbs like ‘Keerajari’ must be well preserved.