Holistic Approach Needed to Bridge Gaps in India's Health Care Sector, Says Azad

Gaps in the Indian health care sector can be bridged with inherent strengths, holistic approach and wide range of remedies of Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), says Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare (MH andFW) Ghulam Nabi Azad. Chairing the meeting of Consultative Committee of Parliament attached to the (MH andFW), Azad said: "Global trends indicate that the natural medicine is going to be preferred resort of health care for chronic lifestyle and geriatric disorders and Indian systems of medicine can play a significant role in tackling emerging health problems.

"International cooperation with China, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, and South Africa has been initiated and is also under consideration with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Serbia and Mexico. Recently, Department has approached WHO headquarters to extend its support and undertake collaborative activities for the development of traditional medicine with focused outcomes," the Minister added.

Pointing out that many new initiatives are proposed in the 12th Five-year Plan, to shape the development of AYUSH, Azad announced that three more institutes, namely All India Institute of Ayurveda, North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homeopathy and North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine are coming up and are expected to be made functional in the current year.

Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM andH) was created in March, 1995 and re-named as AYUSH in November, 2003 with a view to provide Healthcare, Education and Research in Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy Systems.

The AYUSH systems are time-tested methods to tackle life style disorders, which are becoming a major threat to health in at present.

Source-ANI