The Hindu : National : Indian systems to be included in medical curriculum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

National

National

Indian systems to be included in medical curriculum

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 8. Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) will be included in the modern medicine curriculum in the country. The Government will also make available one ISM doctor at each primary health centre, along with an allopathic doctor, to integrate the two streams.

Inaugurating an international conference on Unani medicines, organised by the Central Council of Research in Unani Medicine, the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, said the Government was initiating several steps to realise the full potential of ISM.

Pointing out that efforts were on to increase the number of ISM dispensaries under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), he said the alternative systems of medicine had great potential in India because of biological diversity and traditional knowledge.

"The Government is taking all steps to protect the country's vast reservoir of traditional knowledge under the project of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) of Unani Medicines that would record the therapeutic efficacy of different medicinal plants used in this system," he said. The TKDL team of experts is transcribing 77,000 formulations, existing in 14 classical texts in Urdu, Arabic and Persian into English, French, Spanish and Japanese. So far, 43,927 Unani formulations have been identified. Of these, 16,446 formulations had been transcribed and 8,462 scanned.

The Government had identified specific and vital areas of development in the traditional systems of medicine and launched a separate national policy on Indian systems of medicine and homoeopathy. He said the growth of the plant-based drug industry was between 10 and 15 per cent as compared to the chemical-based one that remained between three and five per cent annually.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National