AYUSH in ASSAM

Boost for wellness with govt seal
- Assam unveils AYUSH body to increase effectiveness in medical treatment
WASIM RAHMAN

Jorhat, May 25: There was a time when India earned renown for alternative routes for curing diseases. Yogis and ayurved practitioners had an enviable following, as “return to Nature” was the mantra that gained popularity.

Taking a leaf from that wellness mode, the Assam government has sanctioned the establishment of a new separate directorate for AYUSH (Ayurvedic, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy).

Commissioner and secretary of the health and family welfare department J.C Goswami, in a notification issued in the name of Governor J.B. Patnaik, said the new directorate was being set up to accord special attention to medical education, planning, training and research for the branches of medicine falling under AYUSH.

The notification said all the three government homoeopathy colleges and hospitals and the only government ayurved college in the state would come under the administrative control of the new directorate. The homeopathic colleges and hospitals are in Jorhat, Nagaon and Guwahati, while the ayurvedic one is in Guwahati.

There will be a separate wing of AYUSH in all the civil hospitals of the districts and subdivisions, upto the sub-centre level.

It also said the directorate would be set up to increase effectiveness in government and private health service delivery, production and monitoring quality of drugs and implementation of government policies regarding alternative systems of medicines.

The notification said the new directorate would look after the infrastructure and manpower planning and execution with regard to building, personnel, equipment and supplies of the institutions and offices it will govern. The directorate will also deal with all issues related to governance and workforce management (promotions and transfers of non-gazetted employees) of the AYUSH sector.

It said the directorate will promote indigenous, traditional and community medicine research in the state and co-ordinate with various councils of alternative medicines under the AYUSH sector.

The notification included a letter by the deputy secretary of the health and family welfare department, C. Barua, to the accountant general of Assam, which said the government had given the financial approval to create 23 posts to run the new directorate.

The list of new posts includes one director, one joint director, two deputy directors, one financial and accounts officer, one superintendent, two upper division clerks, one accountant, one cashier, four lower division clerks, one stenographer, three typist-cum-computer operators, one chowkidar and four peons-cum-chowkidars.

Official sources said the government had taken the decision to accord priority to the AYUSH sector with a rise in the popularity of medicines of non-allopathic drugs.

The Centre had established a department of Indian system of medicine and homoeopathy in March 1995 and renamed it AYUSH in November 2003, under the Union health and family welfare ministry.

The aim was to provide special attention to the development of research in the fields of AYUSH and upgrade the educational standards, quality control and standardisation of drugs, improve the availability of medicinal plant materials and create awareness about AYUSH systems, domestically and globally.