Ayush practitioners are growing in India, says Ayush minister Naik

India currently has close to 8 lakh practitioners of Ayush system of medicines.

People practicing Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush) system of medicines in the country is growing.

In the past two years there has been about 5% increase, said Ayush minister Shripad Naik in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Friday.

The number of AYUSH Practitioners has increased from 7,36,538 in 2014 to 7,44,563 in 2015 and to 7,71,468 in 2016.

Also, the export of Ayush products is also on the rise, with the total worth of exported products, including extracts of medicinal herbs, having gone up from $352.93 in 2014-15 to $ 403.59 already in 2016-17.

“Our government has taken various initiatives to popularise Ayush,” said Naik.

Mainstreaming of Ayush is one of the strategies in National Health Mission (NHM) as well that seeks to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care in order to improve the existing health care delivery system.

As part of its strategy to popularize integrated medicine therapy, Ayush facilities have been made available at primary health centres, community health centres and district hospitals to enable choice to the patients for different systems of medicines under single window.

National Ayush Mission (NAM) was also approved in 2014 as centrally sponsored scheme to mainstream traditional medicines and therapies in both urban and rural areas.

The ministry has establishment post graduate institutes of yoga and naturopathy education and research, and also out patient departments (OPDs) of yoga and naturopathy in various hospitals for interested patients to have an easy access.

International Yoga Day is celebrated on June 21 every year since 2015, wherein preparations start a month in advance, and has significantly contributed in making yoga popular among masses.

Yoga training camps are not only conducted in all districts of India but also in foreign countries through India’s missions as well as independently by people and organizations.

“The interest in Yoga has been tremendous and we want to promote it in a big way,” said Ayush minister Naik.