With increasing demand for alternate traditional medicines and therapy in India and abroad, the Government is roping in engineers, management gurus and scientists from IITs, IIMs and Department of Biotechnology in a big way to explore scientific validation of the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha & Sowa Rigpa, and Homoeopathy) products for their wider acceptance.
To begin with, the All India Institute of Ayurveda and IIT-Delhi will ink a pact to encourage further research in ancient Indian medicines during a two-day conference ‘Raising Towards Excellence’ on July 17-18 here.
Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik will inaugurate the conference, said an official from the Ayush Ministry.
In a first-of-its kind conference, Vice-Chancellors of various health universities, directors of reputed research organisations and around 100 accomplished senior professionals from various national institutes including IIT, DST, DBT, UGC etc are expected to participate. It is also planned to join hands together and sign MoUs with Sports Authority of India, Indian Institute of Technology for collaborative ventures in the sector, said the official.
“In light of the worldwide changing healthcare environment, it has become abundantly clear that there is a need for comprehensive review of traditional systems of medicine in terms of policy, legislation, regulation, research, development, financing, training and professional development, quality control and safety regulations of these systems of medicine,” the official said pointing out that only those drugs are finding acceptance which have been developed after intense research.
For instance, he referred two drugs like anti-diabetic herbal drug BGR-34 and lukoskin for treatment of skin disease, luecoderma. While the former has been developed by two CSIR laboratories — The Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) and the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), the latter is by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). Approved by the Ayush Ministry, both are being marketed by Delhi-based AIMIl Pharmaceuticals.
These are just a few examples of the products which are based on scientific approach, the official said hoping that collaborations with the IITs, DBT, CSIR’s labs with the national AYUSH institutes will result in many more scientifically proved drugs in the sector.
Representatives from national AYUSH Institutes such as All India Institute of Ayurveda, Institute of Post Graduate Teaching & Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar (Gujarat), Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Delhi, National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) Jaipur, National Institute of Homoeopathy, Kolkata, National Institute of Naturopathy, Pune, National Institute of Siddha (NIS), Chennai, National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bangalore, Rashtriya Ayurved Vidyapeeth, Delhi, will also participate in the event.