Shripad Naik Emphasizes on Availability of Quality Raw Material for Production of Quality AYUSH Drugs

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH and Health and Family Welfare, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik has underlined the importance of availability of quality raw material for production of quality drugs. The Minister also suggested that review meetings should be held from time to time with all stakeholders to understand the bottlenecks they face in taking up large cultivation of medical plants. Shri Naik said the issues impacting medicinal plants cut across many sectors, and therefore, inter-sectoral coordination must be taken up in right earnest. He suggested that the State Medicinal Plants Boards (SMPBs) could be the nodal agencies for this.

Shri Naik said the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) is a turning point as it, inter-alia, envisages better access to AYUSH services through increase in number of AYUSH Hospitals and Dispensaries ensuring availability of AYUSH drugs and trained manpower. The Minister added that 20% of total available resources are earmarked for flexible components to enable the State Governments to focus on need based activities to promote and develop AYUSH systems in the States/UTs.

Emphasizing on institutional strengthening, the Minister said it has been envisaged as one of the core activities under the NAM. He said, the enhancement in the number of upgraded educational institutions, increase in the number of Pharmacies, Drug Testing Laboratories and improved drug enforcement mechanism in terms of making available quality standards paraphernalia will ensure the availability of qualified practitioners and safe drugs to the society. For this purpose, he said, the State Governments are also expected to establish the AYUSH administrative infrastructure at state, district and block levels.Laying emphasis on the education regulations for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, the Minister said the States should give top priority to fulfil the mandatory requirements of infrastructure, facilities and functionality of concerned Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy Colleges and Hospitals as per provisions under the relevant Act and Regulations.

The Minister also informed that the Ministry of AYUSH has decided to undertake a programme on 'Homeopathy for Healthy Child'. Initially, the program is being undertaken on pilot basis in one District/Region each of Assam (Kamrup), Delhi (West Delhi), Maharashtra (Palghar), Odisha (Cuttak) and two districts of Uttar Pradesh (Gautam Budh Nagar & Gorakhpur. The Minister requested the respective States to cooperate for effective implementation of the project. The Ministry of AYUSH is also planning to organize a mega event on International Yoga Day falling on 21st June.

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