AYUSH still not a reality in state

Recently,AYUSH secretary S Jalaja of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had met the state Ayurvedic Department officials in Gujarat. She had asked for the appointment of directors for each of these fields to be supervised by a director general drawn from the IAS or the IFS.

“I don’t know why Gujarat is lacking the motivation to reorganise the Ayurvedic Department into AYUSH. States like Tamil Nadu,West Bengal,Rajasthan,Himachal Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have already appointed the directors and directors general. AYUSH had sent instructions to Gujarat several times,” Jalaja said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that nearly 70 per cent of the world’s population is dependent on traditional medicine.

“The department has a surplus of ayurvedic doctors. Ironically,even as the state is rich in biodiversity,only two experts in the department can identify medicinal species. Special focus is required. This is only possible if each traditional medicine stream is given equal status,” said sources in the Ayurvedic Department.

Earlier,former state Ayurvedic Department Director A P Singh had sent two proposals to the state government asking them to restructure Ayurveda as AYUSH,but nothing seems to have worked out.

“Unani,sidha and yoga don’t have much infrastructure in the state. But we have good infrastructure for ayurveda and homoeopathy here. That is why the traditional medicines are working under the Ayurvedic department,” said Megha Jani,Director,Ayurvedic Department.

She added,“We already have a system in place where we have been appointing deputy directors for each stream in a phased manner.”

Rajesh Kishore,Principal Secretary,Health and Family Welfare Department,said: “The traditional medicines are being promoted. We also have an Ayurvedic Model College coming up in Gandhinagar soon.”