Govt wants alternative med researched
The Ayush ministry is encouraging hospitals and wellness centres under it to conduct research to show the efficacy and health benefits of alternative medicines, according to the ministry.
This is part of the Centre's push to widen the reach, popularity and acceptance of alternative medicines.
Ayush works with six disciplines—Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa and homeopathy. The Centre has been taking steps to encourage Ayush institutes to conduct studies in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
"During the covid pandemic the Ayush ministry did more than 150 research studies. The recent inclusion of ASU (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) disease nomenclature in the International Classification of Disease (ICD-11) TM2 of WHO is another evidence of researchbased and collaborative efforts," said V.D. Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, Ayush.
The validity of Ayush practices is sometimes questioned, and their application is freathy quently limited to yoga and therapeutic activities. The ministry aims to dispel this myth and provide empirical evidence for their significance.
"Standardization, clinical research and safety studies are the foundation of our research councils active across the nation.
The ministry has also undertaken various collaborative research projects, following an integrative research model for scientific evidence generation in the Ayush sector at institutions of national repute like CSIR, DBT, AIIMS, ILBS and more, apart from many international collaborations," Kotecha added.
There are five research councils under the ministry of Ayush—the Centre Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), Central Council for research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturop(CCRYN), and Central Council Research in Siddha (CCRS).
The CCRAS, an autonomous body under the ministry has been undertaking, coordinating, formulating and promoting scientific research on Ayurveda.
As per the ministry, the CCRAS has already conducted clinical research on 50 health issues such as cardiovascular diseases, hemiplegia, malaria, obesity and lipid disorder, peptic ulcer, asthma and chronic bronchitis.
Currently, there are 30 institutes which are working in clinical research programmes with the CCRAS such as Central Ayurveda Research Institute in Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Patiala, and Regional Ayurveda Research Institutes in Jaipur, Lucknow and other cities.
Focusing on the importance ofevidence-basedresearchand innovation and recognizing the global shift towards chronic and non-communicable diseases, the ministry emphasized integrating traditional systems with conventional medicine to promote a holistic and patientcentric healthcare approach. It has developed general guidelines for research and development in Ayush.
The ministry is encouraging research to show the efficacy and health benefits of alternative medicines