Minister of AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik today said, the government is making all-out efforts to reach the traditional system of medicine to the people at affordable cost. Replying to a debate on the working of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, Mr Naik said in the Rajya Sabha that the government has provided grants for the establishment of 85 Integrated AYUSH Hospitals in the country.
He said, 50 such proposals have also been received from the states. He said, as many as 704 AYUSH colleges are functional in the country. Out of them 127 are government colleges. Mr Naik said, out of the proposed 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres, 12 thousand 500 Centres will be run through AYUSH System.
During the current financial year, 4,200 such centres will be set up. He said, the Centre the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) to develop and encourage the AYUSH system of medicine in the country. The Mission envisages better access to AYUSH services and strengthening of the concerned educational institutions.
Earlier, initiating the discussion, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party said this is an old and effective system of treatment and it should not be neglected.
Mr. Yadav said the budgetary allocation of this ministry is inadequate and it must be increased for the promotion of AYUSH. He stressed the need to strengthen the education system for AYUSH and there should be NEET like system to attract good students. Satyanarayan Jatia of BJP also emphasized on improving the education quality in this system. He also talked about increasing the budget for the AYUSH and its promotion in a planned way.
