To give the requisite boost to Ayurveda, the Ayush Ministry and Indian Council of Medicinal Research (ICMR) have decided to conduct molecular based studies i.e converging the research approach of alternate traditional medicinal systems with the modern system of medicine.
“To converge the research approach of AYUSH systems with the modern system of medicine, the Ministry of AYUSH and Indian Council of Medicinal Research have decided to have molecular based studies on specific leads from the Ministry,” said Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for AYUSH recently at the Ayurveda Conclave organised by his Ministry and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently here.
Emphasising that Ayurveda is witnessing a resurgence in India and around the globe, he said that a threefold increase in market size of Ayurvedic products from USD 2.5 billion to USD 8 billion is envisioned by 2022. He also said that the Government has already begun work on building AIIMS like facilities for Ayurveda across India.
Dr Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ayush Ministry, said, “We have to look at research integration and teaching.” Entrepreneurs must leverage the huge demand for Ayurveda, he said.
Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, felt that intervention is required in terms of upgrading infrastructure, and conducting extensive research and process standardisations to take this ancient system of holistic healing to the masses. Rajiv Vasudevan, Chairman-CII Core Group on Ayurveda and MD, AyurVAID Hospitals, said that new facilities should be opened up for Ayurveda in non-communicable diseases, geriatrics, and degenerative diseases.
He urged the Government to make it possible for qualified physicians to practice exclusive Ayurveda and health insurance providers to include Ayurveda in their package.
Sources said that though the ICMR and ministry will soon start conducting molecular based studies in the area, a team of scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) way back in 2015 has already conclusively proved the genomic basis of Ayurveda as per the findings published in the journal ‘Nature’.
The six-year research project had collected blood samples from over 3,400 people in the age group of 20-30. Ayurvedic physicians screened them, and the same set of people was also screened by AyuSoft software, developed by C-DAC, Bengaluru. Isolation of DNA and genomic studies were carried out using Affymetrix 6.0 SNP chip.
When the data was plotted, it fell into three groups, establishing the molecular basis for ancient Ayurvedic classification of three ‘doshas/prakritis’ or biological energies/humors found in the human body, namely Vata, Pitta and Kapha, as per the study.