CTMR urges Union Ayush ministry to open Jan Aushadhi model Siddha shops all over India
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Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
June 06 , 2019
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Congratulating Sripad Yesso Naik on his assuming office as the Minister
of Ayush for the second term, the Chennai based Centre for Traditional
Medicines and Research (CTMR) appealed to the minister to establish ‘Jan
Aushadhi’ model Siddha medical stores in all major cities and Ayush
hospitals in the country to make quality traditional medicines at
affordable prices.
On the way to Delhi to submit a memorandum to
the minister, the CTMR secretary, Dr. T Thirunarayanan, has responded to
queries from Pharmabiz that the Siddha community in Tamil Nadu now
needs the ministry’s special attention and focus on Siddha stream to
promote the method of treatment and Siddha drugs in national level. Jan
Aushadhi model shops for Siddha will help promote the system and the
drug industry in places where the system is currently alienated or made
inaccessible to people, especially to the Tamil diaspora who are mostly
the followers of the Siddha system.
The secretary of CTMR will
hold discussion with the Ayush minister and hand over the memorandum
seeking his immediate intervention. CTMR is an NGO, doing researches in
Indian medicines and providing training to Siddha practitioners,
medicinal plant cultivators and manufacturing units.
According to
him, lack of marketing facilities for Siddha medicines is the major
problem faced by this sector and practitioners. To help promote
marketing of this age old traditional system, the ministry of Ayush
should prepare a plan of action and implement it with the support of
state Ayush departments and NGOs like CTMR.
“A lot of people are
coming to the National Institute of Siddha at Tambaram every day for
collecting medicines for lifestyle and other diseases. Most of the
visiting patients are from far of places, and they spend a lot of money
to get their medicines from NIS. And, there are long queues of patients
in the government Siddha medical colleges and in district hospitals.
This rush can be averted if facilities for purchase are made in each
hospital or in cities by establishing government sponsored medical shops
for Siddha. We are proposing Jan Aushadhi model medical shops in all
major cities and government hospitals all over India”, said Dr.
Thirunarayanan.
He said the most wanted medicines used for
diseases like arthritis, diabetes, hypertension and cancer are madhumega
churnam, mahavallathi lehiyam, amukkara churnam and certain kinds of
thailams (medicated oils). These are often not available in government
hospitals or in the NIS. The ministry of Ayush should take initiative
for manufacturing these essential medicines and sell them through the
proposed Jan Aushadhi Siddha or Indian medicine shops at reasonable
prices. If all kinds of Siddha medicines are available anywhere in the
country, the acceptance of the treatment and drugs by people of other
states will automatically increase. Only government can do something for
this, he said.
Further, CTMR wants the Ayush ministry to advise
all state governments to open Siddha wings in the general hospitals and
Ayush medical colleges in the capital cities as well as in district
levels. Government should provide financial support to start a minimum
of 100 Siddha clinics on pan India basis under national Ayush mission
(NAM).
And as a special case for south India where Siddha is
popular, government should provide grants for opening Siddha wings in
all the primary health centres. The national health mission supported
Siddha wings in the hospitals in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry must
be converted into full time health centres.
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