Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Health Minister Alo Libang has said that the state is planning to set up a full-fledged Directorate of AYUSH Healthcare Services to promote traditional medicine in the Himalayan state.
He disclosed this while participating in deliberations during the Regional Review Meeting of Northeastern States on the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) held at Guwahati on Friday under the chairmanship of Union AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, according to a statement from the Union Minister’s office on Saturday.
Later, taking to Twitter, Libang wrote, “Had a fruitful deliberation on various issues being faced for the effective implementation of schemes while also discussing the progress and future roadmap of centrally sponsored NAM schemes in North-East States.”
Inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma along with Union Minister Sonowal, the Regional Review meeting was also attended by the Health Ministers of Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura, and senior officials from Meghalaya and Nagaland, as well as other states of the region. The Union Minister of State for Ayush, Dr Mahendrabhai Munjapara, along with the Secretary of the Ministry of Ayush, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, and other senior officials from the Ministry were also present.
Sonowal said, “Today we had a very fruitful discussion on the promotion and propagation of the Ayush system of medicine in the Northeast region of the country. Along with the rest of the world, the importance and popularity of traditional systems of medicine have increased significantly in our beautiful region of the Northeast. I must congratulate all our states in the region for taking on the onus in this regard, as is evident from the progress we have achieved in propagating the Ayush system of medicine in the region.”
He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made significant progress in reinventing the age-old and proven benefits of traditional systems of medicine to enrich the quality of people’s lives.
“Modi ji has not only encouraged the use of traditional medicine in India but has also led a global movement to invest, innovate, and integrate traditional medicine with modern medicine to develop a holistic line of healthcare solutions aimed at enriching the quality of lives.”
“In this spirit, I would like to call upon all the states of Northeast India to explore the possibility of setting up an Integrated Ayush Department in all its leading state hospitals, in line with the setting up of similar departments in all 19 AIIMS, under the guidance of Prime Minister Modi,” Sonowal said.
“Today, we are presented with this unique opportunity to kick start a movement to set up integrated medicine departments in all our leading state hospitals, thereby popularising and implementing the concept of integrated medicine to be emulated by the whole country.
We, the people of the Northeast region, can realise the vision of Modi ji as the engine of India’s movement towards holistic healthcare, further boost traditional medicine practices, and become the hub of an Ayush-led economic growth, promoting employment and trade for the region.”
The National Ayush Mission is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Ayush and is being implemented through state and UT governments for the development and promotion of Ayush systems in the country.
The objective of this regional review meeting was to review the implementation of NAM in the NE States and knowledge sharing between the States, National Institutes, and Peripheral Research Institutes under the Research Councils of the Ministry of Ayush and their active support for the implementation of NAM Scheme, the statement added.
