Govt to set up regulatory regime for AYUSH medicines : Naik

The government is considering to set up a structured central regulatory regime for yoga, ayurveda and other traditional medicines, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
"Government has considered to set up a structured central regulatory regime for AYUSH medicines," Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik said in a written reply.
Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy (ISM&H) was created in March 1995 and re-named as Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) in November 2003.
It was created with a view to providing focused attention to development of education and research in Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy systems.

The Department has been elevated to an independent Ministry with effect from November, 2014.
Naik said that the current proposal is to have a vertical structure for AYUSH medicines in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

"Government has initiated procedural steps for setting up the vertical structure for AYUSH in the CDSCO and the need for creation of a separate drug Controller General for AYUSH may be assessed subsequently, the time frame for which cannot be specified at this stage," Naik said.
Replying to another question, he said that the Ministry had constituted a committee in August 2014 to explore the possibility of promoting the concept of Holistic Health in the country in order to optimise the utilisation of available manpower in the health sector.

He said that the committee recommended the introduction of a National Holistic Public Health System (NHPHS) which integrates AYUSH at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, reforming medical education, research and legal framework to support NHPHS and others.
He said that the AYUSH intervention for preservation and control of non-communicable diseases has already been initiated while significant part of the AYUSH budget is spent on research.