Traditional system of medicine can be promoted further- Min

The Regional Review meeting of National Ayush Mission was ceremonially inaugurated byUnion Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, SarbanandaSonowal along with the Union Minister of State for Ayush& Women and Child Development, Dr Munjpara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai; Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of Tamil Nadu, Thiru Ma Subramanian; Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of Karnataka, Dinesh Gundu Rao; Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha among other senior officials from governments of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu, UT of Puducherry, UT of Lakshadweep and Ministry of Ayush, Govt of India.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, SarbanandaSonowal said, “Today, we had a very fruitful discussion on Ayush and how the traditional system of medicine can be promoted further towards realising a Swastha Bharat, the vision of Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi. In this spirit, I would like to call all the southern states to explore the possibility of setting up an Integrated Ayush Department in all its leading state hospitals and we must do everything possible to invest, innovate, & integrate traditional system of medicine for enhancing the quality of life of the people.”

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Ayush and Women & Child Development, DrMahendrabhaiMunjapara said, “I believe we have to emphasize outcomes as a more meaningful measure of programme value than output. With the active participation of States, it is expected to ensure better access to Ayush healthcare services, better availability of medicines & trained manpower, improvement in Ayush education through a well-equipped and added number of Ayush Educational Institutions, reduction in communicable/non-communicable diseases through targeted Public Health Programmes using the strengths of Ayush systems of medicine.”

During the meeting, all the participating states & union territories presented detailed presentations on the state of Ayush and progress of leading Ayushprogrammes under implementation.Till 2022-23, 315 Ayush Hospitals and 5,023 Ayush dispensaries have been supported for Up-gradation of infrastructure and other facilities. Financial Assistance has also been provided for 13 New Ayush Educational Institutions and 77 Under-Graduate and 35 Post-Graduate Ayush Educational Institutes have been supported for upgradation of infrastructure, Library and other things.Till the year 2022-23, 137 Integrated Ayush Hospitals have been supported and out of that 37 are functional, 86 are under Construction and 14 in process. More than 8.42 crores people got benefitted through Ayush system of medicine through AHWC in 2022.