Ayurveda is a time tested health care system developed over a period of time (since 500 BC) in Indian sub-continent with continuous use by the community. It is well organized, codified and amply documented and almost parallel to allopathic system in terms of institutional and health care network in India. Ayurveda though popular in all the states of the country, but it is comparatively more prevalent and acceptable in Kerala, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan,Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh,Uttaranchal and Orissa. The distinguished feature of Ayurveda is its holistic nature. It considers a human being in totality and takes into consideration his relationship with the environment. The unmatched heritage of this system is a treasure house of knowledge for both preventive and curative health care. The positive features of Ayurveda inter alia include diversity and flexibility of remedies; natural origin of healthcare & therapeutic modalities, large scale accessibility & affordability; broad acceptance by a section of the general public; a comparatively low cost; a low level of technological input and growing economic value. The system provides not only comprehensive treatment strategy for common as well as chronic ailments, but also aims at enabling the body to fight the disease effectively while promoting positive health. Due to such attributes, the system has great potential to serve as a provider of holistic & comprehensive healthcare that the larger sections of population in India and foreign countries need.
Of late the importance of Ayurveda has been realized owing to its natural origin and negligible toxicity of medicines, which happens to be quite in contrast to western medical system that makes use of chemical drugs. In post-independence India, there has been phenomenal growth of Ayurveda and as a result, a huge infrastructure of healthcare is available in public, private and voluntary sectors. However, in many parts of the country Ayurveda in various forms is still the only kind of healthcare available within the financial and physical reach of the people. Ayurveda sector in India in spite of having a lot of diversity in many aspects still enjoys significant public and government patronage. The system is officially recognized and enjoys policy support for growth and development on its own genius.
Globalization and international cooperation & collaboration
The Government of India has been striving for promotion and propagation of Indian Systems of Medicine abroad. The efforts have got added momentum after the establishment of a separate Department of Indian Systems of Medicine & Homeopathy in 1995. Ayurveda has been recognized as an official system of healthcare in Hungary. Collaborative efforts for recognition of Ayurveda in Russia were initiated with Russian Government under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The Department has taken cognizance of the likely impact of European Union Directives for regulation of traditional herbal medicinal products on international recognition and trade of Ayurveda. A claim has been forestalled with EU Commission and UK Government to segregate Ayurveda from herbal medicine and consider it an independent system of healthcare that possesses codified & organized knowledge. Similar dialogues are going on with South Africa and other countries for acceptance of Ayurveda to enable registration of doctors for practice and products for trade.
In the field of Ayurveda education & research, Gujarat Ayurveda University, Jamnagar (Gujarat) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration with institutions in Japan, Australia, The Netherlands, Argentina, Italy, and USA. A faculty of Ayurveda is contemplated to be set up in Nelson Mandela School of Medicine. Students and professionals from Japan, Russia, the Netherlands, France, Canada, USA, Poland, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Ukraine and Sri Lanka are studying in introductory and degree courses of Ayurveda at Gujarat Ayurveda University. Discussions are in process for deputing Ayurveda experts for short-term courses to USA and Hungary. One of the universities of West Indies has also requested deputation of Ayurveda Professor from India for two years. Department of Science & Technology had concluded an MOU in March 2002 to establish Russian Centre for Ayurvedic Research (RICAR) in Moscow, aiming inter-alia at pursuing research and development studies on Ayurveda.
In view of the foregoing, it is amply clear that India, by virtue of having long history and strong base of Ayurveda has an edge and the system is poised to get globalized for the benefit of humanity suffering largely from diseases resulted due to erratic lifestyle & stressful living conditions. The health promotive, disease preventive, rehabilitative and recuperative roles of Ayurveda coupled with its holistic approach are the driving force that has taken the world by storm. As a result, global community is looking towards Ayurveda for solutions to the emerging health problems, which are otherwise not manageable with concurrent medical approach. Now the time is to harness the benefits of Ayurveda with its rational, affordable, evidence based and discriminate use.
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