Structured popularisation of Ayurveda on the cards Dr Harsh Vardhan: Lifestyle change can defeat NCD scourge

The government is not striving for a revival of public interest in Ayurveda for nothing. The objective is to promote a national way of life marked by appropriate relationship between human beings and their environment. That is the only way to reduce the burden placed by Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) on the scarce resources of the country and Ayurveda is key to that. With these words, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, inaugurated the first government-organised World Ayurveda Congress here today. With him on the stage was Mrs Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of the Lok Sabha. There was a strong international presence also. The foreign dignitaries included Mr Zohid Maleque- Minister of State, Bangladesh, Mr Khagaraj Adhikari, Health Minister of Nepal, Dr Mohamed Habeeb, Deputy Minister, Maldives, Mr X K Djalilov, Deputy Minister, Uzbekistan, Dr Vijay Bhatkar, Chairperson, Vigyan Bharati and senior officials from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Maldives, Slovenia, and Trinidad & Tobago. More than 4,000 delegates including 400 from abroad are participating in the event. Dr Harsh Vardhan remarked that when the present government took over office in May this year, only about Rs 167 crore out of a total outlay of Rs 1,200 crore was spent by the Department of AYUSH. But now, thanks to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modis insistence on giving Ayurveda and other traditional forms of medicine their rightful place in the mainstream of Indias healthcare, the outlay has gone up to Rs 5,000 crore. This will lead to considerable growth in the number of research and treatment facilities and upgradation of the existing infrastructure, the Minister said. Experts drawn from India, Germany, Italy, USA, Argentina, Russia, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Cambodia and many other countries heard the Minister warn that unless the writing on the wall is heeded, an entire generation will be emasculated soon by hypertension, high blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. The Minister said, Is there any country with the worlds highest burdens in diseases linked to both poverty and affluence? On the one hand we have the highest number of Tuberculosis (TB) cases while on the other we are set to become world leaders in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic pulmonary disease and cancer. Dr Harsh Vardhan remarked, No country can lose so much human resource in their prime to strokes, heart attacks, tobacco and nutrition linked cancers, renal failure and other avoidable diseases. Modern medicine as we know it cannot win the war against NCDs. Only Ayurveda can, because in the true sense only Ayurveda can transform the way we lead our lives. This strategy, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, is part of the preventive and promotive health campaign already launched by the government. The effectiveness of the Ayurvedic lifestyle will be propagated through National Cancer Awareness Day, National Diabetes Day, National Hypertension Day and dedicated days of the year for campaign against many other diseases. Meanwhile, departments for AYUSH will be opened in all government hospitals and the six new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). We have decided to aggressively push preventive and promotive health. The government will try to develop a new generation of Indians that lives the Ayurvedic life marked by eating the right food, doing physical exercises including Yoga, shuns tobacco and accepts low-cost indigenous forms of medicine which will be given pride of place in the national mainstream. Alongside, India is developing a model for holistic health. An expert group under Dr H.R. Nagendra, Vice-Chancellor of S-Vyasa University has been constituted for this purpose, the Minister informed. Units of AYUSH will be opened in even primary health centres across the country where patients will be treated through detoxification, de-stressing, purification and Rasayan. Elaborating on the format of the World Ayurveda Congress, Dr Harsh Vardhan said it will comprise 5 plenary sessions and 25 technical sessions on 15 research themes. In all, 750 scientific papers will be presented by scientists from India, Germany, Italy, USA, Argentina, Russia and many other countries. The international delegate assembly, International Seminar on Medicinal Plants organised by the National Medicinal Plant Board and a Buyer Seller meet organised by Pharmexcil will be the added attraction of the Congress. About 500 pharma companies dealing in Ayurvedic medicines will be participating.

Structured popularisation of Ayurveda on the cards Dr Harsh Vardhan: Lifestyle change can defeat NCD scourge

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