A three-day workshop on ‘developing quality standards for herbs and herbal formulations' began at the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala's Centre for Medicinal Plants Research at Kottakkal on Tuesday.
Easwara Sharma, Principal of VPSV Ayurveda College, Kottakkal, inaugurated the workshop sponsored by the Ayush, Central Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The workshop, according to the organisers, was aimed at imparting training in drug standardisation, quality control of formulations and raw drugs used in Ayurveda and other systems of medicine. Participants
are getting hands-on training in pharmacognostical and phytochemical methods in standardisation and quality control.
A.B. Rema Shree, deputy project director of the Centre for Medicinal Plants Research (CMPR), welcomed the gathering. C. Ramankutty, chief medical officer (publication), spoke on ‘controversial status of Ayurvedic drugs.' Dr. Gopalakrishnan, physician at the Raw Drug Procurement wing of the Arya Vaidya Sala, spoke on ‘Dravyaguna characterisation of Ayurvedic raw materials.'
P. Selvam, head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Devaki Amma Memorial College of Pharmacy, Chelembra, presented a paper on ‘invitro anti-viral activity and cytoxicity of selected medicinal plants.' K.K. Vijayan, emeritus scientist at CMPR, spoke on the ‘role of chromatography in drug standardisation.'
Satheesh K., extension scientist, proposed a vote of thanks.
