Indigenous Medicare

India is one of the few countries in the world with a history in indigenous Medicare. Atharva Veda, one of the four Vedas — the heavenly books— that have come down to our hands, entirely deals with the medical theories that have been practiced by Indians for thousands of years in the past. Its importance was obliterated by allopathic theories of medicine. However the Indian State has since long decided to revive and strengthen indigenous medical system. It has many branches. Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy, are the known and practiced branches and these have been combined and placed under one ministry called AYUSH Ministry. Apart from promoting indigenous system, the idea is to integrate the Ayush with other and modern medical practices.
There was a proposal of opening at least 30 Ayurveda Colleges in the country but only one was opened last year. During 2011-12 no college was opened. The new Government constituted a committee in September last to report on the feasibility of giving big boost to indigenous medical system. On its recommendation, the Government has decided to open 29 Ayurveda Colleges in different parts of the country with seven in UP and four in Maharashtra. This is a step that responds to the needs of the people especially in rural India. There are currently 281 Ayurveda Colleges in the country offering 15,057 graduate and 3,081 post-graduate seats.
Promoting indigenous medical system and making it widespread is a welcome decision of the Government. It will cater to millions of our people living in rural areas. This will also boost cultivation and protection of rare medicinal herbs and herbariums will come up to provide the substance from which medicines can be procured. This has become inevitable in view of rising cost of allopathic treatment and increasing number of people who stands in need of medical support. Our State should also have more Ayurveda and Unani Colleges so that we can also meet the requirement of our vast rural population.

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