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

India's Ayush, herbal export grows from Rs.617-cr in 2005-06 to Rs.1335-cr in 2009-10

The Indian Ayush (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) and herbal industry has grown by leaps and bounds during the last few years with the export of these products taking a jump from Rs.617.87 crore in 2005-06 to Rs.1335.01 crore in the year 2009-10. 

According to experts in the field, one of the major reasons for this export growth is the fact that several countries in the world have started looking towards the Indian traditional products for treating various ailments and chronic diseases. They have identified the importance of natural healing with Ayush products on par with the allopathic medicines. According to data available with the DGCIS and Pharmexcil, there has been a significant growth of Ayush and herbal products exports over the past few years. The exports of Ayush products alone have increased to Rs.764.25 crore in the year 2009-10 from Rs.311.57 crore in 2005-06. Dr P V Appaji, executive director, Pharmexcil said, “In just two years, the demand for herbal products from India has increased from Rs.375.60 crore in 2006-07 toRs.594.87 crore in 2008-09. For the next year 2009-10 the demand has slightly slipped due to recession and earned only Rs.570.76 crore which is a decrease of Rs.24.11 crore from the previous year.” Some of the significant herbal and Ayush products according to 2009-10 lists of India’s 30 top exports include medicaments of ayurvedic systems, psyllium husk (isobgul husk), saps and extracts, senna leaves and pads, other plants and parts of plants used in pharmacy, insecticdl/fungicdl purpose. medicants of homoeopathic systems, Lacts and lacts syrup containing 99 per cent or more lacts, Vinca rosea (herbs), Zedovary roots, Cascara sagrada bark, kuth root, sarsaparilla, Tukmaria and Medicants of bio-chemic systems are some of the important exports ayurvedic and homoeopathic items from the country. Among the top 10 destinations of India’s herbal products, USA leads the list. USA has imported herbal products worth Rs.202 crore every year since 2007-08. Pakistan, Japan, Germany, Ireland, UK, Australia, Bangladesh, Viet Nam and Malaysia are the other important importers of herbal products from India with an aggregate income of Rs.367.06 crore for the nation. According to a report from Pharmexcil for the year 2009, Canada tops list of top 10 exporters of medicinal herbs with a gain of US$ 224.73 million. China holds the second place with US$ 193.33 millions and India in the third place with exports gains of US$ 105.91 million. Significant point to be noted is that china is slowly loosing its export ground and has decreased its exports from US$ 344.12 millions in 2005 to US$ 193.33 million in the year 2009, while India and Canada are steadily increasing their export gains from just US$ 38.87 million and US$ 32.65 million in 2005 to US$ 105.91 million and US$ 224.73 million respectively.

Dispur thrust for AYUSH

WASIM RAHMAN

Herbal healing Jorhat, Aug. 19: The Assam government has given a special thrust to popularise alternative medicine and treatment and pushed for prescribing AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy) medicines in government hospitals. In a directive to all the district joint directors of health services recently, the mission director of the state unit of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), J.B. Ekka, asked them to ensure that AYUSH medicines were prescribed by doctors. Allopathic and AYUSH drugs supplied under the mission are supplied free of cost to patients in government hospitals, dispensaries and public health centres. The letter said mainstreaming of AYUSH was one of the main components of the rural health mission. The national mission had appointed 267 ayurvedic and 50 homoeopathic doctors recently, apart from the doctors recruited by the state government, to provide medical services under AYUSH. While reviewing the utilisation of AYUSH drugs across the state, it was found that the patients were not being prescribed such medicines. The directive said AYUSH doctors from different parts of the state had earlier complained that they had not been able to practice what they had studied because of the non-availability of medicines where they were posted. However, since 2009-2010, AYUSH medicines and required medical kits were supplied to hospitals, dispensaries and PHCs where the doctors were posted. The mission director asked the joint directors of health services in the districts to take up the matter with the doctors. The letter said if AYUSH drugs were not prescribed, the mission might stop supplying the medicines in future. Following the NRHM directive, the state programme officer for AYUSH, who is also the deputy director of health services, H.H. Islam, last month had asked the districts to furnish details of utilisation and current stock position of ayurvedic and homoeopathic drugs. Islam also asked for information on the requirement of the drugs. Joint director health services (Jorhat), Mintu Gogoi, said following the directive, he had reviewed the matter with the doctors posted in the hospitals, dispensaries and PHCs. Gogoi said there was sufficient stock of AYUSH medicines in the district. The NRHM move comes after the state government issued a notification regarding the setting up of a separate directorate for AYUSH under the health department earlier this year. The directorate was being set up to accord special attention to medical education, planning, training and research for the branches of medicine falling under AYUSH. All the three government homoeopathy colleges and hospitals and the only government ayurveda college in the state will come under the administrative control of the new directorate. The homeopathy colleges and hospitals are in Jorhat, Nagaon and Guwahati, while the ayurvedic one is in Guwahati. There will be a separate wing of AYUSH in all the civil hospitals of the districts and subdivisions, upto the sub-centre level. The directorate will promote indigenous, traditional and community medicine research in the state and co-ordinate with various councils of alternative medicines under the AYUSH sector

Varsity pulls allopathy out of Indian medicine

Central Council of Indian Medicine warns medical varsity

CHENNAI: The allopathy versus traditional medicine crossfire in Tamil Nadu has intensified, with the MGR Medical University pulling out the allopathy content from the traditional medicine syllabus and the Central Council for Indian Medicine(CCIM) threatening to withdraw recognition for such courses.

Caught in melee are 1,200-odd students of siddha, unani, ayurveda and homeopathy courses under theMGR university . The university had deleted allopathy portions from the undergraduate syllabus of traditional medicine courses this year as it wanted to curb traditional medicine practitioners from prescribing allopathic drugs.


CCIM, which prescribes the curriculum and syllabus for courses, is not too pleased. "If the university changes the syllabus , it would be a clear violation of the provisions of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act 1970," CCIM secretary P R Sharma said.
CCIM has demanded that the university reintroduce the removed syllabus within 30 days failing which it will withdraw recognition and the state council will be asked not to register students passing out of the university . University officials confirmed the revision in syllabus.

University vice-chancellor Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan said the decision to prune the syllabus 
was taken on the basis of inputs from six senior allopathic doctors. "We have reduced syllabus for MBBS by 20% because we found that students face an overload of information . In Indian 

medicine stream, we cut down on the syllabus because we thought there were too many irrelevant things," he said.
Dr Natarajan said the varsity is planning to change the nomenclature of the degrees it awarded to Indian medicine graduates.

Now, an undergraduate in Ayurveda will no more be Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) but only Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine (BAM). "Why should they be called surgeons when they don't do any surgery?," he said.

Tamil Nadu State Medical Council president Dr M Prakasam welcomed the university decision. "I am glad the purity of Indian medicine is restored . Allowing non-allopathic doctors to prescribe modern medicines and conduct surgery amounts to state-sponsored quackery," he said

Med students on warpath after univ alters syllabus

CHENNAI: More than 1,100 students of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani courses of Tamil Nadu Dr MGR 

Medical University are planning to boycott classes from Monday as they fear their courses will soon become invalid after portions pertaining to allopathic medicine were removed from their syllabus. The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), a regulatory body for the Indian medicine doctors has threatened to withdraw recognition to the state medical university, which removed allopathic content from their syllabus for traditional medicine. The council's one month deadline to withdraw its decision on syllabus revision ends September 17.

Students from Government Siddha College in Palayamkottai, who went on a token fast last week, have threatened to boycott class indefinitely. They argue that the council had allowed students of Indian medicine to also study parts of modern medicine to enable them to become better doctors. The university has deleted surgery, pharmacology and large sections of orthopeadics and ophthalmology

Warning to MGR University

CHENNAI: The Standing Academic Board (Ayush) and the Indian Siddha Medical Graduates Association, on Sunday asked the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University not to go ahead with its proposed revision of syllabus for courses in Indian medicine. Earlier, the Central Council of Indian Medicine had warned the varsity against the move as it was against rules.

The Central Council of Indian Medicine had warned the university management that if it failed to reverse its decision, its recognition would be revoked. Meanwhile, the SAB (Ayush) and the ISMGA have called for the move to be dropped.

Which is better - Standing or Sitting ?

Many us us spend most of our waking life, sitting. We wake up, sit down to eat breakfast, sit down in our cars, get to work, sit continuously for 9 hours, sit in our cars, come home, get one hour of a workout in if we’re lucky, sit for dinner, sit in front of the tv, and then go to bed. The way we approach sitting is harmful to our health. The occasional dalliance with a straight-backed office chair probably isn’t a problem, but when we spend most of our waking life sitting (or, even worse, slumping over) in a chair, we invite disaster.

 Such sedentary living is a real problem. Here are some studies that have researched the health hazards of spending too much time sitting. A New Zealand study found that workers who spent an inordinate amount of time sitting at their desks were at a higher risk of developing deep vein thombrosis (DVT). Workers who used computers while sitting were at an even high risk. Metabolic syndrome may also be exacerbated by ‘too little exercise and too much sitting’. An NY Times article reported the harmful effects of sitting in the unnatural postures that we employ. Acutely, sitting weakens our muscles, especially in the legs and the hips. When you sit, your glutes are totally inactive. They aren’t being used. They’re stretched out. It’s just one big static stretch, all day long, which weakens them. Strong, engaged glutes are required for effective, natural movement. Running, walking, lifting weights – if you’re doing any of this with weak,

 inactive glutes from excessive sitting, you’re an injury waiting to happen. Standing workstations make an entrance in the US. Many people are opting to have their desks at standing levels so that they can work while standing. Try propping some books under your laptop when you get tired of all that sitting. Other than working while standing (or standing on one foot while you rest the other) there are several things that a sedentary worker can do to get more activity into his or her day. Employ simple solutions like fetching your own water, walking over to a co-worker’s desk rather than emailing or calling, and using the office building’s staircase for brief bouts of activity to counter the ill-effects of sitting for long stretches of time.