ICMR and AYUSH to work together to boost Ayurveda’s identity based on scientific evidence

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Health Ministry and Ministry of AYUSH signed on May 11 a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to enhance collaboration and cooperation in health research in the field of Integrated Medicine.

This move will help Ayush departments in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) evolve into departments of Integrated Medicine across the entire AIIMS infrastructure in India, said member (Health), NITI Aayog, V.K. Paul.

Integrative Health Research is a transdisciplinary, holistic approach to investigate the benefits of co-administering the conventional (modern systems of medicine) and non-conventional (traditional/complementary/alternative) medical practices to identify the comprehensive healthcare practices to an individual and the community.

Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya explained that the collaboration would promote high impact integrative research to generate evidence in priority areas of national importance in healthcare utilising modern scientific methods.

The MoA will also explore the areas of convergence and synergy between the two organisations for integrative health research and strengthening research capacity.

It will also look into efforts to conduct high-quality clinical trials jointly on identified areas/disease conditions of national importance with promising therapies of Ayush system to generate evidence for wider acceptance.

According to the Ministry, in addition, as part of the collaboration, scholars/trainees/researchers/faculties of the organisations will have access to advanced instrumentation systems, and other infrastructural facilities as per the prevailing rules and regulation of the organisations for the duration of the visit/joint research project/programme.