NITI Aayog on
Saturday released a compendium of Ayush-based practices from States and Union
territories detailing information about various Ayush-based initiatives and
practices adopted by the States and Union territories in India for containing
and managing the Covid-19 outbreak.
“In India,
along with the contemporary medicine system, Ayush systems have played an active
role on various fronts to tackle the health crisis caused by the Covid-19
pandemic. I hope that these collective efforts of traditional and conventional
healthcare systems will pave the way for the world by providing a holistic
healthcare system model,” said Minister of State for Ayush Dr. Munjpara
Mahendrabhai Kalubhai during the release of the compendium.
Since the
year 2020, the world has been facing an unprecedented public health crisis in
the form of Covid-19. States and Union territories have been equal partners of
the Union Government in managing the Covid-19 outbreak in India. Ayush
Departments of States/UTs have joined their hands with State Health Departments
to strengthen India’s fight against Covid-19.
“It is
critical to communicate the learnings from the testing times during the Covid-19 outbreak about how Ayush practices implemented at national and State level
benefited people. The compendium provides information focused on practices
adopted by various States and UTs of India to strengthen the country’s
fight against Covid-19, using Ayush’s resources and interventions. I am sure
this document will be a crucial knowledge resource for stakeholders from other
countries who have a good network of traditional medicine systems. It will
significantly aid in our fight against Covid-19, other epidemics, and pandemics
in the future,” stated NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Shri Suman Bery in his message.
NITI Aayog
Member Dr. V K Paul in his message mentioned, “I am hopeful that practices
documented in this compendium will be useful to address any future surge of the
pandemic and also serve as a model of an integrative approach to health
action.”.
In preparing
the compendium of Ayush-based practices, NITI Aayog reached out to all State
Governments and administrations of Union territories, requesting them to share
Ayush practices they have undertaken for Covid-19 mitigation and management.
The
practices in the compendium have been disaggregated under five sections: (i)
Overview and objectives of practices adopted by the States/UTs (ii) Ayush Human
Resource and infrastructure (iii) Interventions and Initiatives (iv) Digital
Platform and Tele-medicine (v) Issues occurred or addressed. The compendium has
also included a summary of the Ministry of Ayush, the Government of India
guidelines, and initiatives.
The report
indicates that traditional healthcare systems in the country would be strengthened
further. The integration of evidence-based Ayush services with the modern
system has the potential to significantly strengthen India’s healthcare system.
