Govt to set up nationwide AYUSH Grid

The AYUSH ministry is in the process of setting up a nationwide AYUSH Grid connecting all hospitals and laboratories so that case histories and observations can be collated to generate evidence about the efficacy of the traditional systems of medicine.

The move is in line with the government’s Digital India push. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasised last week at a Yoga Awards ceremony on the need to create a homogenous system by setting up AYUSH Grid on the lines of one nation, one tax and one nation, one mobility card.

The ministry of electronics and information technology has agreed to advise and give technical support to AYUSH ministry for planning and development of the grid project.

The prime minister had pitched for connecting technology with tradition in the practice of AYUSH when he had announced the government’s plans to establish 12,500 centres across India, which would provide traditional system of health care and medicines. Of these, 4,000 of which will be set up this year.

Background

The AYUSH ministry was formed on November 9, 2014 to ensure the optimal development and propagation of AYUSH systems of health care. Earlier it was known as the department of Indian system of medicine and homeopathy (ISM&H), which was created in March 1995 and renamed as department of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy (AYUSH) in November 2003, with focused attention for the development of education and research.

The AYUSH ministry and the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) had signed an MOU in July for collaborating with each other for the digitisation of the AYUSH sector.

MeitY has agreed to advise and give technical support to the AYUSH ministry for planning and development of AYUSH Grid project.

In pursuance to the National Health Policy 2017 and e-governance initiative of ministry of AYUSH aims to digitise the entire AYUSH leading to transformation in field of health care delivery at all levels, in addition to greater research, education, delivery of various health care programmes and better drug regulations.

The ministry said the project will be beneficial for all stakeholders of AYUSH, including citizens of the country and in turn will help to achieve various national and international goals in health care.

Some health initiatives led by MeitY are e-Hospital, e-Aushadhi, e-Rakt Kosh, Online Registration System (ORS) and e-Sushrut for digitising the internal workflows and processes of hospitals enabling the efficient and online delivery of health care services across the country.

As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the estimated proportion of all deaths due to non-communicable diseases has increased from 37.09 per cent in 1990 to 61.8 per cent in 2016.

An array of ayurvedic drugs are available in the market, with some of them developed by the country’s prestigious research institutions like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The CSIR has prepared BGR-34 for diabetes treatment while the DRDO has developed NEERI-KFT for kidney ailments and Lukoskin for leucoderma or white patches.