Govt has special focus on traditional medicine, says Mandaviya

Gandhinagar, Aug 18 (IANS) Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said the government has a special focus on traditional medicine, adding it established a separate Ministry of AYUSH in this regard.

“In India, under the leadership of Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), we have a specific focus on traditional medicine and established a separate Ministry of AYUSH, which includes Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy,” he said while addressing the concluding session of the two-day World Health Organization (WHO) Global Summit on Traditional Medicine.

AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other dignitaries were also present.

Referring to Covid pandemic, the Minister said, “During the Covid-19 crisis, traditional medicines had played a very important role through scientific and evidence-based medicines in terms of preventive, therapeutic and public health management.”

“Ministry of Health and the Ministry of AYUSH works closely to integrate, endorse, and develop holistic health, including through availability of traditional medicines and yoga in 1,50,000+ Health and Wellness Centres and by establishing centres of integrated medicines in our tertiary hospitals,” Mandaviya said.

“Under the overarching theme of India’s G20 Presidency of ‘One Earth, One Family and One Future’ and focus on reducing fragmentation and enhancing convergence, this meeting will be a torch bearer for effective health systems strengthening and will bring additional research, evidence and innovation to help us meet health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

“The summit will help identify potential areas for collaboration and innovation in traditional medicines and help harness traditional medicine in achieving Universal Health Coverage goals,” Sonowal said.

Speaking on the occasion, the WHO DG said, “Traditional medicines never had this kind of attention from governments, even though they have been practiced since millennia. Recognizing the benefits in the use of traditional medicines, WHO recently established the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat.”

Ghebreyesus appreciated India’s role in promoting the use of traditional medicines and hoped that this first-ever summit on traditional medicines will be a catalyst for bringing together modern science and traditional knowledge in making health systems better.