Will support new Ayush colleges in Northeast: Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal

GUWAHATI: The Central Government has increased the financial support from Rs 9 crore to Rs 70 crore to open more Ayush colleges across the country, Union Minister for Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, said on Saturday.

The Minister was addressing a conference on 'Diverse and Fulfilling Career Paths in Ayush Systems: Education, Entrepreneurship & Employment Focus on North-eastern States' in Guwahati.

The Union minister said that there are only a few Ayush colleges in the Northeast and the Indian traditional medicine systems can only be popularized by making available more qualified practitioners.

"For this purpose, more Ayush teaching colleges may be required to come up in the Northeastern states. Earlier Centrally-sponsored scheme of National Ayush Mission provided financial support of Rs 9 crore to state governments to open new Ayush colleges. Now, the Government of India has enhanced this amount to Rs 70 crore. States may identify the land and manpower for this purpose and avail this opportunity as per the guidelines of the NAM," Sonowal said.

Sonowal added that the Ministry of Ayush has also accorded in-principle approval for upgrading the Government Ayurvedic College, Jalukbari, Guwahati as the Centre of Excellence with the support of up to Rs 10 crore. He said that his Ministry provides Rs 5 crore to upgrade the undergraduate teaching colleges and Rs 6 crore to improve the infrastructure of post graduate institutions.

The minister also announced the starting of a Panchkarma Technician course affiliated to Health Sector Skill Council - National Skill Development Corporation at Central Ayurveda Research Institute (CARI), Guwahati with 10 seats for 10+2 students to produce skilled manpower for Panchkarma therapy in the region and enhance the employment opportunities in that part of the country.

"Career opportunities in the Ayush sector for professionals of all disciplines have increased dramatically during recent years. Moreover, consequent to these efforts, faith in the Ayush systems has been restored among communities worldwide," Sonowal said. He added that Ayush has a great potential to cater to a large number of healthcare needs of people and contribute to the growth and development of this country.

Assam Health & Family Welfare Minister Keshab Mahanta was the guest of honour at the conference.

The Ministry of Ayush had earlier this month successfully held a landmark conference of Ayush ministers of all north-eastern states and deliberated upon developing the infrastructure for popularizing Ayush stream in the region. Today's conference was the next step with experts discussing the education and career opportunities in Ayush, a press release said.

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