All primary health centres in the State will soon have a Siddha wing, said Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin here on Friday.
Inaugurating a seminar on “Tamil medicine, its ancientness and individuality,” Mr. Stalin said realising the importance and efficacy of Siddha medicines, the State government opened Siddha medicine departments in different parts of the State. It is also instrumental in allotting land for the National Institute of Siddha in Tambaram, where 1,000 outpatients were being treated daily. It had also sanctioned five acres in Tambaram for conducting research on Tamil medicines. The State government was also considering the Centre's request for 25 acres in Padappai near Tambaram for setting up an herbal farm.
The Deputy Chief Minister appealed to allopathic and Siddha doctors to work in coordination without any bias. Siddha doctors should take steps to protect the native medicines and continue their research work.
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He wanted Tamil scholars to bring out in book form what was available in manuscripts to help highlight the greatness of Tamil medicines.
Quoting from various Tamil poems, Mr. Stalin said there were many records to prove that ancient Tamil Nadu was famous for its native medicines.
M. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil University, presiding over the seminar, wanted Siddha doctors to find medicines for new diseases which had been surfacing at regular intervals.
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Mayil Vahanan Natarajan, Vice-Chancellor of the Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, said the efficacy of Siddha medicine had not been tapped fully. S. Thanickachalam of the Sri Ramachandra Medical University, Puthu Jayaprakash Narayanan, chairman, Siddha Advisory Council, and R.T. Sabapathi Mohan of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, spoke.