Ministry of AYUSH will support a new integrative approach with modern medicine, overhauling the practice and teaching of indigenous medicine, including Ayurveda, Yoga, and Unani, and systematically documenting and collecting data said Dr. Rajesh Kotecha, Special Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, in Kochi last Sunday.
Dr. Kotecha was participating as the chief guest at Amrita Samyogam 2017, an international conference on integrative Ayurveda and modern medicine, organised by the School of Ayurveda, Amrita University, in association with Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences.
Information Technology will be the backbone of AYUSH systems in the country, as it will provide a platform to collate information on various indigenous treatment methods that will help create a database for future research, he said. He added that a national AYUSH grid would be created connecting various hospitals and research labs for data analysis.
This conference was an attempt to bring together practitioners of Allopathy and Ayurveda, facilitating the formulation of a roadmap to develop guidelines for integrative medical practice. It was also aimed at identifying areas and strategies for collaborative integration of Allopathy and Ayurveda in the management of specific diseases like Cancer, Diabetes, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Musculoskeletal Diseases as well as promotion of Mental Health.
The two-day (August 6-7) conference was participated by experts from abroad and India including Dr. Jeffrey White, Director, National Cancer Institute, USA; Dr. Daniel Furst, MD, Rheumatologist, University of California, Los Angeles, USA; Dr. Nereo Bresolin, MD, Neurologist, University of Milano, Italy; Dr. Christian Kessler, Internal Medicine Expert, Charite Medical University, Germany; Dr. Valdis Pirags, Diabeteologist, University of Latvia; Dr. Ravi Mehrotra, Director, Noida National Institute of Cancer Prevntion and Research; Dr. B N Gangadhar, Director, NIMHANS, Bangalore; Dr. Rama Jaysundar, AIIMS Professor; Dr. Bibin Nayar, Dean, Amrita University Biotechnology School; Dr. Shanthikumar V Nayar, Dean, Amrita University Research.
The experts also called for a national policy for integration. The conference also discussed evidence based practice guidelines for cross referrals and combination therapy, understanding the biological mechanisms underlying the validated clinical practices for integrative care and integration of modern technological tools in Ayurvedic diagnostics, treatment procedures as well as drug delivery.
