Chairs set up in foreign countries for popularisation of Ayush

New Delhi, Sep 19 (ANI): Recognizing the popularity of the Indian systems of medicine in other countries, the Department of AYUSH under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has re-defined its strategy for international co-operation.

Several steps have been taken by the department in this regard recently.

However, there are several impediments in popularizing AYUSH in foreign countries. These are - absence of regulatory provisions, lack of authentic knowledge about AYUSH systems and doubts about the safety of ASU drugs.

To remove these impediments, in addition to taking part as in seminars and conferences abroad, the Department is now engaging with other countries in a more structured and concrete manner by entering into MoUs for cooperation in Traditional Medicine as well as for setting up of Academic Chairs in educational institutions abroad.

Thus as compared to the previous years where only one MoU had been signed with China in 2008, MoUs on Traditional Medicines have been entered into with Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago in the recent past.

MoU with Nepal is currently under Government's consideration. Furthermore, MoU with Serbia is also in the pipeline. Academic Chairs have been already set up in South Africa. In addition to this, Chairs are being set up in Germany and Trinidad and Tobago. Chairs will also be set up in Nepal and Srilanka after the MoUs have been signed. (ANI)