Fostering a pioneering effort in aligning traditional medicine research with global standards and priorities the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), an apex autonomous organization under the Ministry of Ayush, has signed two MoU’s with Shri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra & Dabur, a leading Ayurvedic company in India.  CCRAS also launched its new and updated website.

The first of its kind consultative meet brought together representatives from diverse domains of Traditional Medicine (TM) in India, including policymakers, academic institutions, researchers, patients, and industry stakeholders. The aim is to identify and prioritize key research areas across various traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Homeopathy.

 These announcements were made during the one-day National Consultative Meet on “Research Priority Settings in Traditional Medicine” on June 24, 2024, at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi, held in collaboration with the WHO-SEARO (World Health Organisation – South East Asia Region office) office and WHO-GTMC (World Health Organisation – Global Traditional Medicine Centre)

Vaidya, Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, said “The objective is to ensure effective utilization of funds and address critical areas of need within traditional medicine, including medicinal plant research, quality, safety, and efficacy studies, pre-clinical validations, rational use of traditional medicines, clinical trial monitoring, medical anthropology, and the digitalization of ancient medical literature and thereby supporting its global acceptance and integration”.

Prof. (Vaidya) Rabinarayan Acharya, Director General, CCRAS, said “We wanted to chart a research roadmap for the next decade and lay the groundwork for a decade-long research strategy in traditional medicine and align efforts with WHO guidelines. These two Mou’s with

Dabur & Sri Krishna AYUSH University is a heathy start in this direction.

Prof. (Vd.) Kartar Singh Dhiman, Vice Chancellor of Sri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, emphasized the importance of MoU and under its ambit both parties will look at fostering the path for academic and research collaborations that provides opportunity to researchers and scientists for exchange of ideas through workshops, seminars. PhD Studies of CCRAS scientists.

 Dr. Baidyanath Mishra, Head- R&D Healthcare Research, Dabur Research And Development Centre, Dabur India Ltd. highlighted that Collaborations and Cooperation in Pharmaceutical R&D for different Novel dosage forms and drug development, capacity building, knowledge sharing and training in the field of Ayurveda will be undertaken under the said MoU.

Setting research priorities is a critical endeavor that guides the allocation of resources, shapes scientific agendas, and influences the direction of innovation and discovery. Setting research priorities in traditional medicine is need of the hour as increase in demand and the global accessibility and acceptability of systems fosters the need for same. The identified areas will shape the roadmap of policies for traditional medicine at regional or global level.

 Around 150 stakeholders representing Ministry of Ayush, NITI Aayog, Heads of Research Councils from different streams of traditional medicine and homeopathy in India, Vice-chancellors of various reputed universities, Directors of National Institutes under ministry of Ayush, ICMR- NITM, CSIR, RIS-FITM, JNU New Delhi, WHO-SEARO, WHO-GTMC, policy makers, pharmacy representatives and media persons. The Round table discussions among Expert working groups shaped the prioritization exercise followed by a plenary session including the way forward. Dr. G P Prasad, Assistant Director (In-charge) of National Institute of Indian Medical heritage (NIIMH), a recently designated WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine in India and a co-organizer of this event points out that prioritization fosters the preservation and documentation of traditional knowledge, protecting cultural heritage and biodiversity associated with medicinal plants and indigenous healing practices.