ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS AND ADDITIONAL CHARGE OF MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA,
YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY
(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)
(a): Ministry of AYUSH has undertaken following measures to prevent infectious diseases:-
i. Ministry of AYUSH issued an advisory on 29.01.2020 on how to protect oneself from COVID-19 and how to stay healthy. Ministry has written a letter dated 06.03.2020 to all Chief Secretaries of States / Union territories with more specific suggestions on augmentation of General Immunity of people and about possible AYUSH intervention. Ministry has also issued self-care guidelines on 31.03.2020 for preventive health measures and boosting immunity with special reference to respiratory health.
ii. Guidelines for Registered Practitioners of respective systems of AYUSH have been prepared by Research Councils and National Institutes with their team of experts and same is vetted by the Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force of Ministry of AYUSH. These vetted guidelines are made available in public domain for the benefit of more than 700000 registered AYUSH practitioners to help in the management of COVID-19 pandemic uniformly.
iii. The Ministry of AYUSH has also released “National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for management of COVID-19” prepared by National Task force which in consensus from expert committees from All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Delhi; Institute of Teaching & Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar; National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur ; Central Council for Research in Ayurveda (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN) and other national research organizations as per the Report & Recommendations of the Interdisciplinary Committee.
iv. CCRAS has developed an Ayurvedic formulation Ayush-64 for the management in Malaria through systematic process of drug development and transferred its technology for commercialization through National Research Development Corporation (NRDC).
(b): Ministry of AYUSH has formed an Inter-disciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force chaired by Prof. Bhushan Patwardhan having representation from scientists including ICMR, DBT, CSIR, AIIMS and AYUSH Institutions. The Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force has formulated and designed clinical research protocols for prophylactic studies and add-on interventions in COVID-19 positive cases through thorough review and consultative process of experts of high repute from different organizations across the country for studying four different interventions viz. Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi + Pippali and a poly herbal formulation (AYUSH-64).The task force have taken up the proposals received from screening committees of Councils and proactively explored possibilities based on available leads. Ministry of AYUSH has constituted core group of experts under the Chairmanship of Prof. Bhushan Patwardhan to identify and propose formulations on COVID-19 which are in line with Classical Ayurveda principles and have substantial leads on COVID-19 viz. one for prophylaxis as immunomodulatory, another for management of COVID-19 with antiviral properties and one product for post COVID-19 care.
Under the Research Councils and National Institutes of the Ministry of AYUSH, various research studies are being conducted on AYUSH interventions as prophylactic interventions. The details are at Annexure-I.
(c): The steps taken by the Government to spread awareness relating to optimization of immunity are as details under:-
i. AYUSH for Immunity Campaign: Ministry of AYUSH launched a three-month long campaign called “AYUSH for Immunity” in the month of August, 2020 that aimed to increase awareness among the masses, regarding the effective home care solutions and recommended AYUSH practices, to help them to enhance their immunity. During the entire campaign, series of events, such as social media contests, online discourses and virtual seminars were carried out, which further increased the reach of Ministry of AYUSH among various sections of the society. It was a theme-based campaign, covering the Aahar, Vihaar and Nidra themes, for the months of September, October and November 2020 respectively. Various outreach activities were conducted by different institutions under the Ministry, for public awareness.
ii. Updating Website on COVID related remedies: The website of the Ministry of AYUSH and its autonomous organisations were also updated regularly with information on immunity related remedies.
iii. Holding webinars on virtual platforms: Ministry of AYUSH through various platforms including its own Ayush Virtual Convention Centre (AVCC) held webinars on various topics. A total of 6 webinars took place from 14th Aug 2020 on the subject of immunity.
iv. Community Radio programme: Ministry of AYUSH also engaged Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), an Inter-Governmental organisation to disseminate immunity related information through Community Radio Stations(CRS) among rural and semi urban population. The broadcast of five minutes on CRS was done twice every day from 10/12/2020 to 10/02/2021.
v. Sanjivani App: Ministry of AYUSH also initiated a novel method to assess the impact of its information campaign and the effect of Ayush based remedies. The information was collected by way of an IT based application, namely Ayush Sanjivani App.
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