Indian medicine students get a fillip

CHENNAI: Students of Indian medicine will be allowed to study modern medicine and surgery, health minister V S Vijay has said. The minister, who is also the pro-chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, said that the university's decision to scrap allopathic contents from ayurveda, siddha and unani courses would be withdrawn.

The decision was made after the minister held a meeting with senior health department and university officials, practitioners of Indian systems of medicine and students at the secretariat on Monday. In July, the university had passed a resolution in the governing council revising the syllabus for Indian medicine. Vice-chancellor Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan said the university would remove surgery from the nomenclature of the degrees awarded to Indian medicine students. So, students would be only Bachelor of siddha/ unani/ ayurveda/ homeopathy medicine and not bachelor of siddha unani/ ayurveda/ homeopathy medicine and surgery. On August 17, the Central Council of Indian Medicine, a regulatory body, threatened to withdraw recognition to the state medical university.

Students of Indian medicine have been boycotting classes for a week as they feared their courses would be invalid. On Saturday, students approached commissioner for Indian medicine A Mohammed Aslam and argued that the council had allowed students of Indian medicine to study parts of modern medicine to enable them to become better doctors. But the university deleted surgery, pharmacology and large sections of orthopedics and ophthalmology. If the university is not recognized, students will not be registered as doctors, they said. 

Council member (siddha) Dr B Muthukumar said the university did not consider the views of the standing academic board. Six Indian medicine doctors, members of the board, advised the university not to delete allopathic contents from siddha, unani and ayurveda. "They chose to go with the views of six allopathic doctors," he said.

To end the stalemate between the university and the Indian medicine doctors the minister called the university officials for talks on Monday. "The syllabus and nomenclature are fixed by the Central Council of Indian Medicine. We told the university officials that they can't tamper with it," said Vijay.

"We have also told the Indian medicine students and doctors that they were being taught some parts of modern medicine only for the sake of acquiring knowledge and they can't prescribe allopathic medicines," he said. The University has asked the state government to list out the surgeries Indian medicine practitioners are permitted to do. "They shall not use allopathic anesthetic drugs," said university vice-chancellor Dr Natarajan.

Students of Indian medicine said they were happy with the health department's decision. "We will be back in classes from Tuesday," said R Thyagarajan, a student .

COURTESY NEWS: TOI 

AYUSH to promote yoga in schools

BANGALORE:In an effort to promote AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) medicines, the department of AYUSH is contemplating a series of projects in various districts across the state.
In one such initiative, the department has proposed to start a pilot project in yoga practice for high school teachers of both government and private schools.
Trained teachers are expected to teach their students later.
A few places, including Hiriyur Challakere, Jaglur and Muddebihal, have been identified to start this pilot project, under which the department will provide yoga training to 200 schools of each taluk.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of AYUSH writer’s workshop, G N Sreekantaiah, director, department of AYUSH, said this was part of their efforts to propagate yoga to help people understand its significance

COURTESY : IBN LIVE

MoT announces incentives for NABH accredited wellness centers

MoT announces incentives for NABH accredited wellness centers and Ayurveda hospitals By TBM Staff | Mumbai

To promote Wellness Tourism as a niche tourism product and encourage wellness activities, the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has announced incentives for National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) accredited wellness centres and Ayurveda hospitals. According to a media release, NABH, a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI) provides accreditation to Ayurveda hospitals and wellness centres including spas, Ayurveda centres, Yoga and naturopathy centres, fitness centres, skin care centres, etc. Commenting on the incentives, Dr. Girdhar J Gyani, Secretary General, Quality Council of India (QCI) and CEO, NABH, said that the initiative by the Ministry of Tourism to provide incentives for NABH accredited wellness centres and accredited ayurveda hospitals will give a tremendous boost to the NABH’s wellness accreditation programme. “Wellness is a part of the Indian culture and has become a global trend. As such, it is essential for destinations here in India to create unique travel experiences that are holistic in nature. It is time that we realized our strength and used it to our advantage.” Some of the incentives for the accredited entities are: Being featured on the Incredible India website. Being linked to an accredited centres website from the listings. A NABH Mark of Excellence and a MoT approved logo. Listing of accredited wellness entities on Incredible India stalls in approved national and international wellness and spa conferences. Eligibility to participate in Ministry of Tourism publications and road shows. Financial support for all accredited centres up to Rs six lakh per year from the MoT for participation in international Wellness Tourism events duly identified and approved under the existing guidelines for Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme for Wellness Tourism Service Providers (WTSP). Under this, financial assistance would be permissible on travel expenses by air from India to any other country and by air/rail from one country to another, in economy excursion class fair and/or charges of the built furnished stall, electricity and water charges etc. subject to a maximum of 75 per cent of the total expenditure or Rs.2.00 lakh, whichever is less to WTSP. Up to three visits for two persons from accredited wellness centres and AYUSH Hospitals to participate in international events can be supported by MoT i.e. up to six lakh per year. For Domestic events, four seminars/events in a financial year will be sponsored by MoT with a ceiling of Rs 10 lakh each on a 50:50 sharing basis. Further, for developing publicity material, MoT would be providing financial assistance of 67:33 sharing basis to accredited wellness centres subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 lakh a year. All the accredited entities would be eligible to apply for the annual National Tourism Awards under the Wellness & Spa category

50-bed AYUSH hospital to come up at Harwan

Thursday, 18 Aug 2011 

50-bed AYUSH hospital to come up at Harwan

Rising Kashmir News
SRINAGAR, AUG 18: Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Sham Lal Sharma Thursday inspected the functioning of a number of institutions located in Sonawar area here and took stock of the health care facilities.
The institutions which were inspected by the Minister included, Primary Health Centre, Brane Nishat, Ayurvedic/Unani Dispensary, Gupt Ganga (Ishbar), NT PHC, Harwan and Kashmir Nursing Home.

 He also inspected the under construction building of PHC, Brane and proposed site for construction of 50-beded AYUSH hospital at Harwan.
He issued instructions to the executing agency to expedite the work of PHC building and complete within a period of two months and hand over to the department by October 15, 2011. Regarding AYUSH hospital, he directed the Director, Indian System of Medicines to vigorously pursue the project so that work could be started at the earliest.
In order to make optimal use of Kashmir Nursing Home, the Minister directed the Director Health, Kashmir to take immediate measures to revive its functioning as per its capacity. He said that Government will notify the rates for this prestigious institute soon for the facilities so that people can avail benefits of special treatment to be provided by the senior consultants. He directed for creating necessary infrastructure and renovation of the institution at the earliest.
Interacting with the media persons after inspection of this heritage institution, the Minister said that Government will restore its pristine glory and make it fully operational soon. The people will get special facilities at their doorstep and government will arrange services of the top consultants of the country in different disciplines. The days for their visits will be notified by the institution separately. He hoped that the institution will be able to cater to the needs of thousands of people of Srinagar city and they may not have to move to SKIMS for getting the specialized diagnostic facilities, said Sham.
He also interacted with the doctors and paramedics and listened to their problems. He said that government has already initiated several steps for improving the working environment and created better facilities in the government institutions and it is expected that they should deliver as per the expectations of the public. He said medical is a noble profession and they must maintain the credibility of this pious profession, he asserted.
MLA Sonawar, M Y Shah, Director Indian System of Medicines (ISM), Dr. Abdul Kabir, Director Health Services, Kashmir Dr. Saleem-ur-Rehman, Chief Medical Officer, Srinagar, Dr Farooq Ahmad also accompanied the Ministe

Coming soon: Lifestyle clinics in district

KOCHI:� Soon all the people in the district above the age of 30 will be able to know whether they are afflicted with any lifestyle diseases like diabetes or hypertension.

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is all set to start lifestyle clinics in the district.

Once these clinics are launched, diagnosis camps of lifestyle diseases will be organised at the sub-centres of each primary health centres in the district. “We have imparted training to the medical officers, field staff and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in this regard. They will organise detection camps at the sub-centres,” NRHM district manager Dr K V Beena said.

The ASHA workers will prepare a checklist of people above 30 years which will include their family history of hypertension, diabetes, cardiac ailments or other diseases. Based on the checklist, detection camps will be organised.

The NRHM has granted Rs 2 crore for implementing the programme in the state. Of the Rs 2 crore, Ernakulam district will get Rs 15 lakh for the purpose.

The sub-centre with around 5,000 population in its limits will organise medical camps. The officials at the sub-centres will register the people coming in for screening.

Those diagnosed with any of the lifestyle diseases will be given advice on disease management and preventive medicine.

“The programme is a three-pronged one. As the people lack proper exercises, we lay emphasis on exercise. With the fast lifestyle, people depend more on fast food. That is why we provide advice on diet modifications. Substance abuse is another issue we set our focus on,” Dr K V Beena said.

Those diagnosed with lifestyle diseases will also be provided with medicines.

It is for diagnosis and initial treatment that the sub-centres are being used. For the follow-up on the treatment, the patients can rely on the nearest PHC