Belgaum: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will open its Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) and an exclusive museum of medicinal plants found in the Western Ghats here this week.

Nirmal K. Ganguly, director-general, ICMR, will inaugurate the centre and museum on May 20.

According to Sanjiva D. Kholkute, officer-in-charge of RMRC, a pictorial display of at least 500 medicinal plants found in the Western Ghats will be exhibited at the museum.

The museum has been provided with a database on each plant to help people learn about its medicinal values.

The primary objective is to establish a national centre to promote research and bridge the gap between modern and traditional medicine with emphasis on providing cost-effective quality healthcare through traditional and indigenous systems of medicine.

He said the RMRC had been set up with emphasis on research on traditional systems of medicine practised in this region, which is in close proximity to the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats is recognised as one of the 18 biodiversity hot spots in the world.

The Western Ghats had a rich flora and fauna and every effort needed to be made to protect them.

About 4,000 species of plants were known to be found in the Western Ghats.

Of them, more than 700 plants were reportedly used by tribal people and traditional healers for their medicinal value, he said.

More than 80 per cent of the rural population in this region still depend on traditional medical practitioners. There was an urgent need to document and preserve these traditional medical practices, which were on the verge of extinction due to industrialisation, urbanisation and deforestation, he said.

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