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| EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2011 | Volume
: 32
| Issue : 3 | Page : 297-298 |
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Ayurveda: Think globally... act locally…
HM Chandola
Executive Editor - AYU, IPGT and RA, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
| Date of Web Publication | 17-Mar-2012 |
Correspondence Address:
H M Chandola
Executive Editor - AYU, IPGT and RA, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0974-8520.93901
How to cite this article:
Chandola H M. Ayurveda: Think globally... act locally…. AYU 2011;32:297-8 |
The Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Government of India, is making extraordinary efforts to globalize Ayurveda. Recently, a delegation led by Honorable. Secretary - AYUSH, Shri Anil Kumar along with Joint Secretary, Shri Bala Prasad and Director General - Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Dr. Ramesh Babu Devalla visited Sri Lanka. Collaboration between both the governments in the field of education and research will be mutually beneficial for the development of Ayurveda in the Indian sub-continent. During the visit of the Honorable. Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to Malaysia, in October 2010, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between both the governments, with the objective to strengthen, promote, and develop cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine (TSM), including regulation of teaching, practice, drugs, and drugless therapies between the two countries, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Subsequently, a visit of Ayurveda experts has taken place, to cater to the need of the aspirants for an eco-friendly Ancient System of Medicine. Subsequently, the Government of India has announced 20 scholarships for Malaysian students to pursue courses in the Traditional System of Medicine in India, during the academic year 2011-2012. The Indian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur, announced the number of seats with scholarships for the courses, namely, Bachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) - 10, Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Sciences (BSMS) - 5, and Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) - 2, with minimum eligible qualifications like the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), A Levels, South Australian Matriculation (SAM), Canadian Pre-University, or other qualifications which are equivalent to twelfth standard in India. The candidate should have the compulsory subjects at the qualifying examination level: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, with a minimum of 50% marks in each subject. The seat with AYUSH scholarship was allocated to the Government colleges in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Paprola (HP), Chaudhary Braham Prakash Ayurveda Charaka Sansthan, New Delhi, Lucknow (UP), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, Pune (Maharashtra), Rajiv Gandhi Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, MAHE, Pondicherry for BAMS course, Government Siddha Medical College, Chennai (Tamilnadu), Government Siddha Medical College, Palayamkottai (Tamilnadu) for BSMS course, and Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (UP) for the BUMS course. These motivational strategies will definitely work toward the propagation of Ayurveda globally, without disturbing the basics, locally at National level.
Another appreciable example of the Government effort is the Chaudhary Braham Prakash Ayurveda Charaka Sansthan, administered by Delhi State Government. It is a newly established institution, where a hospital started functioning in 2009, and the admission to the BAMS course in the last quarter of 2010. This institution has an area of around 95 acres of land, with excellent infrastructure and presence of students from Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, and Tajikistan. Establishment of such good institutions in the AYUSH systems is the need of hour.
The Government of India and the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) are seriously engaged in maintaining academic standards in the AYUSH systems throughout the country. The number of Ayurvedic colleges not fulfilling the minimum academic standard have not been granted permission for admission to the BAMS course during the academic year 2011-2012. This decision of the Government of India and the Department of AYUSH needs appreciation, as maintaining a sufficient number of teaching staff, hospital bed occupancy, and laboratory facilities, with the required instruments and equipment, are necessary to maintain the quality of education and intensive clinical training, for Ayurvedic graduates. The mushroom growth of all such institutions without proper infrastructure and qualified human resources should not be allowed to continue, as it downgrades the indigenous system of medicine.
The initiatives taken by the Secretary of AYUSH to improve the administrative and financial skill developments for the faculty members and administrators of AYUSH systems is praiseworthy. The National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), Government of India, New Delhi, has been identified to host such training programs. The organization of such workshops will certainly improve the administrative capabilities and the potential for human resources, for the AYUSH systems. The NIHFW has an excellent infrastructure for such training programs and their active involvement and interaction with AYUSH will be beneficial for the Indian as well as Western Conventional Systems of medicine. It is hoped that the innovative ideas and action plan being initiated under the leadership of the Secretary of AYUSH, to improve the administrative potential, technology training, and stress management, and giving due importance to the human resource for its optimum utilization, will provide a new dignity to these traditional systems of medicine in the country.
The other area where the Department of AYUSH needs attention is the Recruitment Rules (R.R.) for various posts of teaching faculties, as there is a lot of variation in the R.R. prescribed by the CCIM, University Grants Commission (UGC), and different universities governing their own Ayurvedic institutions. The UGC Regulations on minimum qualifications for appointment of Teachers in the university and colleges vide letter no. F.3-1/2009, dated 30 June, 2010, clearly defines that for teachers in the faculty of AYUSH, the norms / regulations of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, shall apply. Therefore, to remove the ambiguity in R.R., it will be better if the Department of AYUSH takes the initiative, by inviting the views from all top Ayurvedic Institutions, and takes a final decision and later gets it endorsed through the CCIM, to make it mandatory for all Ayurvedic Institutions in the country. Everyone is well aware of the status and powers of the M.C.I. regulating the standard of medical education throughout the country. The counterpart of M.C.I. in the ASU (Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani) systems is the CCIM, which came into existence through the Act of Parliament; hence, it could neither be ignored nor sidelined. It is our immense pleasure to convey the needs of the Ayurvedic academecia to the controlling authority through the media of AYU.
It is a matter of fact that AYU has grown as a complete scientific journal of Ayurveda. It has attracted the researchers across the globe with its content. The present issue of AYU starts with an eye opening special report on the present status of the Indian system and folk healing by Madam Shailaja Chandra, Ex.Secretary - Department of AYUSH. It is followed by an innovative view on modern Ayurpathy, put forward for debate by Dr. C.K. Katiyar and Expert view on the concept by Prof. R.H. Singh. As usual, the issue of AYU is enriched with 15 original clinical researches covering various topics, namely, standardization of Tridosha scale, aging, and so on. The next section of drug research comprises of five pharmacological research articles on different topics followed by an article on a pharmacognostical study of Tamalaki (Phyllanthus fraternus Webster) and a research on pharmaceutical standardization article dealing with Shodhana of Kupeelu (Strychnos nuxvomica Linn). The review section is also rich in content comprising of reviews related to Sandhan Kalpana pertaining to Bhaishajya Kalpana (Ayurvedic pharmaceutics), Modified Kshara Sutra Chikitsa pertaining to Shalya Tantra (Surgery), and Philosophical Concepts of the Charakopaskara commentary. In the present issue we have added readers' comments on three previously published articles, along with the explanations provided by the concerned authors. Thus AYU is serving as a true platform for sharing of knowledge, with better efficacy. We hope this will be beneficial for all our readers and researchers.
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