The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Health Ministry and Ministry of AYUSH signed on May 11 a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to enhance collaboration and cooperation in health research in the field of Integrated Medicine.
This move will help Ayush departments in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) evolve into departments of Integrated Medicine across the entire AIIMS infrastructure in India, said member (Health), NITI Aayog, V.K. Paul.
Integrative Health Research is a transdisciplinary, holistic approach to investigate the benefits of co-administering the conventional (modern systems of medicine) and non-conventional (traditional/complementary/alternative) medical practices to identify the comprehensive healthcare practices to an individual and the community.
Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya explained that the collaboration would promote high impact integrative research to generate evidence in priority areas of national importance in healthcare utilising modern scientific methods.
“Joint efforts will be in place to conduct high-quality clinical trials on identified areas/disease conditions of national importance with promising integrative therapies to generate evidence for wider acceptance,” said the Minister adding that this would also help Ayurveda to boost and further build its identity on the basis of scientific evidence and moving towards offering patients the benefit of integrated medicine in India.
Joint working group to be created
The MoA will also explore the areas of convergence and synergy between the two organisations for integrative health research and strengthening research capacity. It will also look into efforts to conduct high-quality clinical trials jointly on identified areas/disease conditions of national importance with promising therapies of Ayush system to generate evidence for wider acceptance.
“A joint working group shall be created between the Ministry of AYUSH and ICMR which will meet quarterly for exploring further areas of collaboration and work on deliverables. Both institutions shall formulate and implement joint research projects and programmes and allow joint supervision of the said activities as well as design and conduct conferences, workshops, seminars jointly with active participation of researchers interested in the field of Integrative Healthcare,’’ said the Health Ministry.
According to the Ministry, in addition, as part of the collaboration, scholars/trainees/researchers/faculties of the organisations will have access to advanced instrumentation systems, and other infrastructural facilities as per the prevailing rules and regulation of the organisations for the duration of the visit/joint research project/programme. “Both shall work towards developing/renewing mutual cooperation for facilitating scientific validation and providing evidence for AYUSH systems by other countries,’’ said the Ministry.
