2-Aug-2022: Proposal to send specialist doctors to rural areas

As per the District Residency Program notified by the Board of Governors, all the post graduate students pursuing MD/MS in broad specialties in all Medical Colleges/Institutes under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 shall undergo a compulsory residential rotation of three months in District Hospitals/ District Health System as a part of the course curriculum.

All the administrative and personnel matters related to health human resource including specialist doctors of various streams of medicines in rural and remote hilly regions lies with the respective State/UT Governments. However, under National Health Mission, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare provides financial and technical support to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) within their overall resource envelope.

Under NHM, following incentives and honorarium are provided for encouraging doctors to practice in rural and remote hilly regions of the country:

• Hard area allowance to specialist doctors for serving in rural and remote areas and for their residential quarters so that they find it attractive to serve in public health facilities in such areas.
• Honorarium to Gynecologists/ Emergency Obstetric Care (EmoC) trained, Pediatricians & Anesthetist/ Life Saving Anaesthesia Skills (LSAS) trained doctors is also provided to increase availability of specialists for conducting Cesarean Sections in rural & remote area.
• States are also allowed to offer negotiable salary to attract specialist including flexibility in strategies such as “You Quote We Pay”.
• Non-Monetary incentives such as preferential admission in post graduate courses for staff serving in difficult areas and improving accommodation arrangement in rural areas have also been introduced under NHM.
• 2 years Diploma course is conducted for graduate doctors which can be pursued through NEET exam. Further, the said course is not limited to graduate doctors working in district hospitals only.

29-Jul-2022: Ayurvedic Aahar Products

In order to recognize India’s age old principles of Ayurveda and the Aahara prepared as per ancient texts, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has formulated Food Safety and Standards (Ayurveda Aahara) Regulations, 2022 in consultation with the Ministry of Ayush and notified the regulations in the official gazette on 5th May, 2022.

The regulations define “Ayurveda Aahara” a food prepared in accordance with the recipes or ingredients or processes as per method described in the authoritative books of Ayurveda listed under ‘Schedule A’ of these regulations. The Regulations, inter-alia, exclude:

• Ayurvedic drugs or proprietary Ayurvedic medicines and medicinal products, cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic substances,
• Herbs listed under Schedule E-1 of Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules 1945 there under.
• Metals based Ayurvedic drugs or medicines, bhasma or pishti,
• Any other ingredients notified by the Authority from time to time,
• Food items in daily use (pulses, rice, flour, vegetables) without addition of Ayurveda ingredients.

For ease of identification and assurance about genuineness of the product, all such products shall carry word “AYURVEDA AAHARA” in close proximity to the product; and the specified logo in front of the pack of the label. The label shall carry statutory warning – ‘ONLY FOR DIETARY USE’. Other labelling requirements have also been specified.

FSSAI has formulated a logo for Ayurveda Aahar to create its unique identity for easy identification and the same was launched by the Minister for Health and Family Welfare on June 07,2022. FSSAI has undertaken widespread publicity of the Ayurveda Aahar logo through the website as well as across social media platforms.          

Under the Convergence of Poshan Abhiyan, Ministry of Ayush is a key partner of Ministry of Women and Child Development. Ministry of Ayush has actively participated in the Jan Andolan activities under Poshan Abhiyan celebrated as Poshan Pakhwada (around March) and Poshan Maah (during the month of September) every year. During the Rashtriya Poshan Maah theme wise activities are conducted throughout the country. These activities include awareness campaigns on Ayurveda for wellbeing, awareness about regional and seasonal food, traditional food for healthy mother and child, recipe competition etc. Ministry had also chosen the theme “Ayurveda for Poshan” for the 6th Ayurveda Day that was celebrated on 2nd November, 2021.

Ministry of Ayush also participated in the celebration of Poshan Maah and Poshan Pakhwada organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development through the National Institutes/Research Councils under the Ministry and had also requested to all the Ayush Departments of all the States/UTs for the same. The week wise activities covered under Rashtriya Poshan Maah to promote "Ayush Aahar" in the country are as under:

• First Week: Plantation activity in the form of Poshan Vatika at the spaces available in Anganwadi Centres, Gram Panchayat, Schools, etc.
• Second Week: Yoga and Ayush for Nutrition (Yoga Sessions targeted for various groups like pregnant women, children and adolescent girls).
• Third Week: Distribution of Nutrition Kits comprising of regional nutritious food to beneficiaries of Anganwadi along with IEC material in high burden districts.
• Fourth Week: Identification of Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children and organising Community Kitchen for the beneficiaries.

National Institutes and Research Councils under Ministry of Ayush has taken following measures to create awareness regarding ‘Ayurvedic Aahar’ –

1. All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) under Ministry of Ayush has organized Awareness lectures, camps to propagate significance of Ayurveda Aahara in nutrition. Further, following activities has also been conducted  by AIIA –
   1. Development of IEC materials in public interest and propagation of Ayurveda Aahara through social media platforms,
   2. Organization of state and National level fairs, expo and food festivals of Ayurveda
   3. Development of Ayurveda Aharaat institutional level.
2. Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar has organized a Health Expo from 09th to 12th December, 2021 for spreading awareness in common public on Ayurveda for Poshan. An Ayurvedic food festival was conducted in 12 stalls with traditional and forgotten recipes of foods such as Ragi Idly, Dhaniya Shots, Cereal and Ragi Soup, Ayurvedic bhel, Curcumin chocolates, Brahmi Sharbat, Drumstick leaves mixed Thepla, Amla Jam and Papaya barfi etc.  Overall 22 different live food items and 34 packaged items were kept under selling in the Health Expo.
3. National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA)  under Ministry of Ayush had organised a three day long Ayush Expo and Food festival from 11th to 13th March’2022 at Shilpgram , Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. The expo was an extension to the expo held on 2nd November 2021 for Ayurveda day 2021 themed “Ayurveda for Poshan”.  The main purpose of the event was to propagate and promote the idea of healthy Ayurveda nutrition amongst the general public of Rajasthan.
4. Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has also conducted various activities including conduct of public lectures, Webinars, Distribution of Ayurvedic Poshan recipes and guidelines, Ayurveda Nutrition Camps, Ayush Food Festival, Distribution of Medicinal plants having nutrition value (such as Amlaki etc.), Quiz/Poster/Essay competitions and Nukkad Natak at colleges and schools . CCRAS has developed a short Film on "You're What You Eat- Ayurveda for Poshan" conveying the Scientific insights of Ayurveda in light of Poshan Abhiyan initiatives by the Ministry of Ayush.

CCRAS has also published “Nutritional Advocacy in Ayurveda - A Pictorial Guide” which is intended as ready reference for awareness about Ayurveda based nutritional principles and nutritional benefits of the different commonly used food items prescribed by Ayurveda classics among masses.

Under the ambit of focused theme of 06th Ayurveda Day“ Ayurveda for Poshan”, CCRAS & its peripheral institutes has created awareness regarding Ayurvedic Aahar through National/State level Arogya melas, Health camps, exhibitions particularly during celebrations of Ayurveda Day, Poshan Maah etc. and also through CCRAS outreach programs viz. Swasthya Rakshan Program (SRP), Schedule Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) Research Program, Tribal Health Care Research Program (THCRP), etc. in different states of the country. Further, CCRAS has developed research based formulations like Antarctica Teato be used as Rasayana /Nutrition Supplement and distributed widely during 06thAyurveda Day celebrations and Arogya Melas.

18-Sep-2021: Ayush Aahar should be promoted throughout the country: Shri Sarbananda Sonowal

Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, said today that the Ministry should promote Ayush Aahar throughout the country. This will also help saving the youth from the ills of junk food. The Minister was visiting the Central Councils Common Building Complex (CCCBC) in Janakpuri, New Delhi where he interacted with officers and scientists of all five research councils and two National Commissions under the Ministry that are located in the premises.

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Ayush is promoting Ayush based diet & lifestyle and is working in convergence with the Ministry of Women & Child Development in the Poshan Abhiyan to realize the ultimate goal of ‘Suposhit Bharat’. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in convergence with Ministry of Ayush has also released draft guidelines on Ayush Aahar, which will facilitate standardized Ayush based Aahar.

The research councils namely, the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), the Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN), the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) and the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) have their headquarters located in the building whereas the Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) has its satellite office in the building complex. Further, the recently constituted National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) and the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) have their offices in the building premises. Today was the first visit of the Minister to the Research Councils and National Commissions.

In the interactive session with officials and scientists, the Minister emphasized on the involvement of people till the grassroot level. He also added that team spirit and hard work is needed to bring in effective change. The results of hard work of the fraternity including the scientists, professors, doctors, technicians need to be propagated across the country and all around the world. He further said that the experience and expertise of the senior officials of the Councils, Commissions need to be utilised to enhance Ayush propagation.

During the interaction, Ayush Secretary, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha stressed on two things. He stressed that competency building should be the priority of all councils and ‘our research councils should develop such modalities that various units attached with these councils get more freedom to innovate’.

During the visit the Minister also released the book titled ‘Quality and Safety of select Rasakalpa - Metal & Mineral based Ayurvedic Formulations, Volume:6’. The book deals with Standard Operative Procedures, Chemical Analysis and preclinical Safety/toxicity studies on Trivanga Bhasma (calcined mixture of tin, lead & zinc) carried out in various institutes. He also launched the NCISM Portal which will be utilized to collect details of activities and programmes conducted under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ campaign which is connecting 75000 educational institutions from across the country.

The Minister further visited the Ethno-medico-Botanical division of CCRAS where he interacted with the scientists at length on issues ranging from routine functioning to specific research activities. The Minister appreciated the efforts of the Council in the direction of tribal welfare. He also instructed that more efforts may be put in for understanding the local health traditions of tribal communities who maintain a good health without ever visiting modern healthcare facilities.

Further, he visited CCRUM library and was briefed by about the large collection of about 200 manuscripts and as many as 17000 scientific documents. He was also informed about the scientific activities and publications of CCRUM. The Minister also showed keen interest in the research publications of the Council. During his visit to the offices of CCRAS, the Minister inspected various divisions of the Council and interacted with the heads of the divisions and staff members.

The NCISM Chairman, Vaidya Jayant Deopujari, informed the Minister that the current focus of the Commission is on two issues one, developing competency based curriculum; second, rating and permission of Ayush educational institutions. He further added that the commission is trying to include more than 3 lakh Ayush practitioners in the national registry of NCISM where about 28000 practitioners from 10 states have already been included.