Minister for Excise T.P. Ramakrishnan reasserted on Sunday that Ayurveda should play a vital in the prevention and control of epidemics, lifestyle diseases and nature pollution.
Inaugurating the 41st national meet of the Ayurvedic Medical Association of India (AMAI) at Venniyoor, near Kottakkal, Mr. Ramakrishnan suggested that the Departments of AYUSH and Agriculture work together to expand herbs cultivation.
He said the AMAI could help identify and salvage many herbs facing extinction, by teaming up with the civic bodies and Kudumbashree units.
He said the government would intervene to check quacks and to address other concerns raised by the AMAI.
AMAI State president Raju Thomas presided over the inaugural function. E.T. Mohammed Basheer, MP; P.K. Abdu Rabb, MLA; Syed Abid Husain Thangal, MLA; Tirurangadi Municipal Chairperson K.T. Raheeda, Ayurveda Medical Education Director Jolly Kutty, State Ayurveda Drug Controller Smart P. John, Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala Chief Physician P. Madhavankutty Varier, AMAI general secretary Sadat Dinakaran, and organising committee chairman V.G. Udayakumar spoke.
The meet focused on creating employment opportunities in public and private sectors, setting up exclusive clinics for women, pharmacy training programmes, and medicine manufacturing training.
Dr. Raju Thomas said that stringent laws should be enacted to check quackery in Ayurveda.
A session on ‘Ayurveda: safe, simple and scientific’ followed. Dr. Udayakumar said that unhealthy competition in the medical sector had given rise to a propaganda that Ayurveda has harmful effects in spite of it being the safest medicine and the treatment system promoting best lifestyle and eating habits.
He said the AMAI had worked in tandem with the government bodies to help the victims of the floods in the last two years. Ayurveda doctors provided services, including counselling programmes, in Nilambur and neighbouring areas during the floods.
Nearly 1,000 delegates from across the country, including Ayurveda practitioners, teachers, students and researchers, attended the conference.
