Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday said one of the fever / dengue management strategies of Tamil Nadu — distribution of Siddha medicine ‘ nilavembu kudineer’ — was adopted in Telangana during the dengue outbreak.
“When there was a dengue outbreak, I held discussions with the Telangana State government and came up with 15 strategies for dengue control based on what I have seen in Tamil Nadu. Distribution of nilavembu kudineer was one of them. I also discussed it with Siddha practitioners in Telangana. It was distributed and helped in fever control,” she said at the inauguration of third Siddha Day celebration on Monday. She said that Indian systems of medicine were valued and well-received abroad but people in India were less aware of its benefits, especially in preventive health. She stressed on the need to focus on traditional food. “Siddha physicians should expand their research and take the benefits of Siddha to the people,” she added.
Minister of State (independent charge) for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik said the Ministry has proposed to include 19 Ayurvedic, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy treatment packages in the cashless health insurance scheme of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. This included treatment for neurological disorders and arthritis. “The proposal has been submitted to the National Health Authority,” he said.
He added that the Ministry had allocated fund for the Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) to construct central testing laboratory for standardisation of Siddha drugs.
Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said Tamil Nadu was the only State in the country to run government medical colleges in all five disciplines of Indian medicine. An exclusive research and development wing for India medicine was established at ₹12 crore and was ready for commissioning.
Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said the directorate of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy is digitising all the old texts of Indian medicine. “Till now, 900 palm leaves of original Siddha manuscripts have been digitised as 1,077 books. We shortly hope to print and publish them,” she said.
She added that one more government Siddha medical college is coming up in Palani. “Siddha treatment is available at 1,079 centres in government medical colleges, super specialty hospitals, district headquarters hospitals and primary health centres. The Indian systems of medicine get 1.10 lakh patients a day,” she said.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH Pramod Kumar Pathak, S. Ganesh, Commissioner of Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy, Director General of CCRS K. Kanakavalli and Director of National Institute of Siddha R. Meenakumari were present.
