India to integrate AYUSH with AIIMS for holistic healthcare: Rajesh Kotech

India is set to integrate the academic department of AYUSH with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) across the country, bringing together the education of conventional and traditional medicine in common medical colleges.

In an exclusive interview with News18, Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, said that the chain of AIIMS hospitals will now establish academic departments of AYUSH system of medicines. AYUSH is an acronym for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Naturopathy, Siddha, SowaRigpa and Homeopathy.

Kotecha, who spoke to News18 on the sidelines of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Summit (GCTM) in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, said India is also working on creating a mechanism for claiming patents on traditional medicines.

"It is difficult to claim patents on natural products. This is the reason we have not been able to claim many patents despite several innovations. Hence, we have formed a committee which is headed by the secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The panel working on finding a solution."

In April 2022, WHO launched the first-of-its-kind project, the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) at Gujarat’s Jamnagar. The centre was officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and WHO Director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

On being asked what could have made WHO choose India for opening GCTM, the first outpost of the United Nations which has been opened outside developed countries, Kotecha listed several reasons.

Firstly, he said, political willpower and continuous mentoring from Prime Minister Modi has played an important role. "India is one of the few countries where we have a separate ministry for alternative medicines and therapies," he said, referring to the Ministry of AYUSH established in 2014.

"Moreover, the budget allocation to the ministry has also grown over the years. In 2014, the budget allocation stood at Rs 691 crore which increased to Rs 3,640 crore in 2023-24 — roughly an increase of five times."

"This showcases India’s seriousness in pursuing the objective of creating a strong ecosystem in traditional medicines."

Interestingly, Kotecha also said that AYUSH has found mention in PM Modi’s Mann in Baat several times. "Out of 99 episodes, AYUSH has been mentioned 33 times," he said.

Secondly, he said, India is a good case for showcasing "evidence-based practice."

"We have experience in generating evidence on a large scale," he said, adding that India has published more than 70 publications in reputed science journals. "India designed and conducted more than 150 studies on COVID-19 during the outbreak, comprising of animal studies, preclinical studies, clinical studies observation studies etc in less than 18 months."

Kotecha explained that several medicines, including Ayush 64 and Kudineer, were studied extensively during the pandemic and "the evidence was so strong that India ended up adding these medicines in National Clinical Management Protocol."

"Also, looking at the size of the sector, the growth is phenomenal," he said, sharing data which shows that the production of AYUSH medicines and supplements has grown by eight times in nine years. "From $3 billion in 2014 to $18 billion in 2020 and now, anticipated to reach $24 billion in 2023, the momentum is huge."

Presently, there are more than 900 start-ups working in the traditional and alternative medicines industry. "Out of these 900, we have one unicorn company with a value of over $1 billion."

Kotecha believes that the demand for AYUSH services is going to increase phenomenally worldwide in the coming years. He said that his ministry already conducted an “impact assessment survey” from November 2021 to June 2022 to understand how many respondents used alternative medicines or remedies during COVID-19 in their home setting.

"The results were eye-opening. Out of 1.47 crore respondents, 1.35 crore or 89.9 percent people used these remedies and therapies at home… This shows the huge demand and pushes us to look for evidence and create a stronger leadership position."

Kotecha said India can leverage the big opportunity via GCTM and establish a strong leadership position in traditional medicines.