Ayush Dept making comprehensive dossier to gain recognition of ISM products abroad

With a view to promote Ayurveda and other Indian Systems of Medicines (ISM) abroad, the Department of Ayush is planning a slew of measures including the preparation of a comprehensive dossier of all aspects to be sent to Indian embassies and high commissions to enable them to take up recognition of systems with appropriate government and regulatory authorities in their countries.

The preparation of the dossier had been pending for some time now and the task has been entrusted to the Advisor (Ayurveda) to complete it at the earliest. Apart from this, efforts will be made to gain legal recognition of Indian systems abroad and hence the participation and cooperation in international events will be stressed and held in a more focussed way, sources said. A high-level meeting has been held by the Secretary of Ayush Department recently to chalk out the measures.

The department will also prepare a panel of persons in the government and the private sector with at least 15 years of experience to represent the country outside at the events. “Anyone going abroad must have experience and knowledge in the field as he would be representing not only the country but also the system,” sources said. The junior officers will be encouraged to go out and delegations would have at least one officer from the panel.

An important way of spreading the knowledge of the systems was through education of foreign students in our institutions. However out of the 50 or so scholarships being offered by the Government, there had been utilization of only around 50 per cent or so in the last few years. This had also been reviewed, and steps have been taken to substantially improve the level of utilization of these scholarships.

The high-level meeting also reviewed all the existing schemes being implemented by the Department. “These revisions had been done to ensure better implementation of the schemes in a more clear and transparent manner, to achieve important objectives such as meaningful and monitorable deliverables in the schemes. It was important to note that these revisions had been carried out without making any structural change, or change in the scale of financial assistance under the various schemes. The revisions already carried out were in the process of being placed on the Departmental website. Henceforth, all new proposals will be scrutinized on the basis of the revised guidelines,” a senior official said.