AYUSH to take home remedies out to market

Aditya Dev, TNN 23 November 2009, 05:06am IST

CHANDIGARH: The department of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy (AYUSH) is planning to put ‘trusted’ home remedies preached and practised by grannies in many households in the ‘tested’ category. The effort is intended as a way to get rid of present generation’s pill fixation.

AYUSH will invite people to tell it about the methods they use at home. If those are found effective in subsequent trials, the department will try to get the person forwarding it, the method’s patent and also devise ways to market the idea.

More importantly, any individual or institution can be part of this extramural research system.

Department’s officials said this was being done as India’s share in the global market was negligible when it came to traditional medicines. They stated that AYUSH also wanted to develop products having intellectual property rights (IPR) potential, which might lead to increase in exports.

Amarjeet Singh of PGI School of Public Health said, ‘The good thing is that this system is open to the public.’

His department has been in talks regarding at least three projects with AYUSH.

The projects are connected with efficacy of neem oil as mosquito repellent, use of ginger and garlic as cough syrup and developing exercises to control the problem of incontinence in women.

He added that preliminary drafts of the projects had been sent to AYUSH and discussions were in advance stage. ‘Going to the roots of alternative medical systems can prove a safe bet in the global market. It can also help people in avoiding hospital visits for simple ailments and make treatment available with minimum side effects,’ he mentioned.

All welcome

People participating in this system of extra mural research can range from eminent scholars to lay persons. Universities and educational institutions can also take part in it. The patent will be jointly applied for by the concerned research council working under AYUSH and the person who brings the method to it for verification.

Source: Times Of India