Huge demand for Ayush products, services; market size has crossed $18 billion: Ayush Secretary

Excerpts from an exclusive interview with ‘The Indian Express’:

Concerted efforts are being made to promote traditional systems of medicine. What are the challenges in the way?

A holistic patient-centred and individualised approach is the specialty of Ayurveda, and enables the patient-physician partnership to design or customise treatment and lifestyle advice in order to achieve the highest potential for well-being.

This awareness, combined with the increase in the publicly reported use of traditional medicine, has brought traditional medicine systems to the fore. The Government of India created a full-fledged Ministry of Ayush on November 9, 2014 with a mandate to promote and propagate Indian systems of medicine and homoeopathy. The ministry is committed to infuse the wisdom of traditional medicine with the methodologies of modern science; scientifically validating the systems and presenting them in the scientific idiom, relating their efficacy to modern lifestyles.

What is the focus at the new WHO centre of Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar?

The Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) will focus on four main strategic areas: evidence and learning; data and analytics; sustainability and equity; and innovation and technology to optimise the contribution of traditional medicine to global health.

GCTM is not a regional centre of the World Health Organisation (WHO), but will be the first and only global centre (office) for traditional medicine in the world. It will focus on building a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medicine practices and products, and help countries integrate it as appropriate into their health systems and regulate its quality and safety for optimal and sustainable impact.

The summit aims at increasing investments and showcasing innovations in the field of traditional medicine. It is a unique attempt to foster long-lasting partnerships, boost exports, and nurture a sustainable ecosystem.

What has been the impact in the eight years since the creation of the Ayush ministry? What is planned at the upcoming summit?

The sector has seen a substantial increase in the market size. There has been a paradigm shift in the health-seeking attitude of the public toward Ayush systems. The market size of Ayush has grown in 2014-20 to reach $18.1 billion. There is a huge demand for Ayush products and services worldwide.

The Global Ayush Innovation and Investment Summit in Gandhinagar will directly affect investment in the traditional medicine sector in India. India has the potential to become a health and wellness hub, attracting investments and creating additional jobs. Various stakeholders like Pharma industries, FMCG industries, innovators, entrepreneurs, farmers, etc. are converging for better linkages and tie-ups; many MoUs will be signed.

An Ayush Export Promotion Council will be launched during the summit, which will act as an enabler for promoting exports in the Ayush sector. We are committed to making India the favourite destination for medical value travel, and providing Ayush human resource to the world for Ayush-based medical health under the ‘Heal in India’ initiative.

What role did traditional medicine systems play during the Covid-19 pandemic?

The Ministry of Ayush (MoA), Government of India, has undertaken several R&D and public health initiatives to harness the potential of Ayush systems to contain the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MoA collaborated with several research organisations to encourage, promote and advance evidence-based research on Ayush systems. There were well-designed clinical studies and pre-clinical studies in collaboration with reputed institutes like CSIR, ICMR, AIIMS Jodhpur, KGMU Lucknow, MGIMS Wardha and DBT on Ayush interventions as standalone or adjunct to standard of care in asymptomatic and mild to moderate Covid-19 patients.

Ayush interventions — AYUSH-64 and Kabasura Kudineer — were repurposed based on promising results of research studies for the management of asymptomatic, mild to moderate Covid-19 as standalone and add-on intervention with standard care, and were distributed among the public benefitting more than 8 lakh population in drive mode. These have shown significant improvement in clinical recovery and duration of hospital stay without any progression of the disease to severe or critical stage.

Also, there was improvement in Quality of life (QoL) parameters and general well-being. As per a survey study covering over 1.35 crore population done through Sanjivani app, more than 89% population have reported to have benefited through Ayush system in Covid-19. The Ayush Ministry has also collaborated with the UK’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to conduct a study on Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) for promoting recovery from Covid-19.

What is the roadmap for addressing opposition to the integration of traditional and modern systems of medicine?

India has a distinctive and unique traditional medicine base, with each system having their own philosophy, medicinal knowledge, perception, and practices. At present all these systems of healthcare along with modern medicine are being practised in India.

There is no point in replacing any system of healthcare. Rather, we are working towards better synergy among all healthcare systems so that the best could reach the patient. Efforts are also underway on many fronts to integrate all healthcare systems. There are many instances and successful integration stories of Ayush which would enable strategic integration into public health at large.

This integration has been realised through coordination and collaboration at various levels of healthcare between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Ayush. The National Ayush Mission is an example of such elaborate integration, wherein health and wellness centres (HWCs) are being established across the country. Another effort at integration can be seen in the integration of Ayush systems in the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke (NPCDCS), wherein the implementation was done through collaboration of the Ayush Research Councils with the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Such integration has enabled enhancing the functional communication and exchange of information among the different streams of medicine. The Ministry of Ayush and AIIMS together established The Department of Integrative Medicine at AIIMS, which is a remarkable initiative under the Centre of Excellence scheme of the Ministry of Ayush.

Efforts are underway to set up integrated Ayush cancer care facilities at the National Cancer Institute at Jhajjar. Signing MoUs for ‘undertaking collaborative research’ to boost the acceptability of Ayush systems at the international level can also be seen as a directed effort for the development of Ayush systems as well as widening the scope of integration.