AYUSH minister examines Globalisation of conventional medicine systems with 15 envoys

AYUSH minister Shripad Naik on Friday held an interactive meeting here with ambassadors/high commissioners of 15 countries on the globalization of traditional and alternative medicine systems for the benefit of humanity. The meeting was coordinated by Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) and attended by ambassadors and high commissioners of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hungary, UAE, Cuba, Iran, Ghana, Trinidad, Oman, Equatorial Guinea, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.

The focus of the meeting was on role played by traditional and complementary systems of medicine (TM&CM) in the health care of people with respect to combating non-communicable diseases and promotion of health, alongside the modern medicine across the world with very low cost, an official statement said. Ambassadors, high commissioners and representatives from the participating countries acknowledged the need for diligent integration of TM&CM with modern medicine in combating non-communicable diseases to reduce the exorbitant health care expenditure for individuals and to the national exchequer.

"There was a consensus in the meeting that all stakeholding countries should come together to work for the globalization of traditional medicine systems for the benefit of humanity. "For this purpose, it was acknowledged, induction of Indian Medical systems like Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) of the WHO would be desirable," the statement said The efforts made by the ministry in creating Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) morbidity codes and standardized terminologies in line with WHO guidelines for quantification and reporting of health services by AYUSH systems at national level were also discussed, it said.