ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
(DR. HARSH VARDHAN)
(a): Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation Limited (IMPCL) is a Govt. of India enterprise company and manufactures Ayurveda and Unani medicines. The Consumption of Ayurvedic Medicines/Products manufactured by IMPCL has been increased during COVID-19 pandemic. IMPCL has recorded Sales of worth Rs. 69.60 Cr. up to August 2020 as compared to last year Rs. 26.73 Cr. out of which IMPCL have sold COVID-19 medicines approximately Rs. 30 Cr. to the various Central/State institutions/Autonomous as well as open market across the Country for the mass population of the India.
(b): Ministry of AYUSH has issued an advisory on 29.01.2020 on how to protect oneself from COVID and how to stay healthy. Ministry has also 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.
(c): The manufacture for sale of Ayurvedic drugs are required valid license from State Licensing Authorities under the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 & Rules 1945. As per Good Manufacturing Practice norms, in house Drug Testing Laboratory is mandatory, Testing parameters are laid in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia. The Govt. has supported 27 State Drug Testing Laboratories have been supported under the Quality Control Scheme of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani & Homoeopathy drugs under National AYUSH Mission. 58 private Drug Test Laboratories have also been approved under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 for testing ASU&H drugs in the Country. In addition there are two central Drug Testing Laboratories i.e. Pharmacopoeial Laboratory for Indian Medicines (PLIM) & Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory (HPL), Ghaziabad which is appellate laboratory under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945.
(d): Guidelines for Registered Practitioners of respective system of AYUSH have been prepared by Director Generals of Research Councils and Directors of National Institutes with their team of experts and same is vetted by the Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force of Ministry of AYUSH and after obtaining approval of Cabinet Secretariat, 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. However, as health comes under the purview of respective State/UT Government, based on State/UT specific guidelines only some of the States/UTs have allowed management of Covid-19 patients with AYUSH interventions. The data pertaining to treatment of Covid-19 through AYUSH intervention based on the information received from various State/UTs is annexed.
(e): The details of the steps taken by the Government to deal with current crisis is as follows:
i) Ministry of AYUSH has issued an advisory on 29.01.2020 on how to protect oneself from COVID and how to stay healthy. Ministry has also 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) Ministry has sent a D.O. letter dated 16.03.2020 to Ministry of Health & Family welfare offering for integrating and utilizing huge AYUSH infrastructure to combat with the COVID19 pandemic and also to Principals of all Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) colleges (approximately 727 colleges) on 23.03.2020 for offering their services to local health authorities for utilization of the available facilities by them as per the situation arises.
iii) Ministry of AYUSH in collaboration with M/o Health & Family has organized Training of Trainers for COVID-19 Preparedness, Response and Containment.
iv) Ministry of AYUSH issued Gazette notification dated 21.04.2020 for undertaking research on COVID-19 through Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy including prophylactic measures, intervention during the quarantine, asymptomatic and symptomatic cases of COVID-19. Public Health Research, Survey, Lab Based Research etc. to generate evidence.
v) Ministry of AYUSH has formed an Inter-disciplinary AYUSH R&D Task Force. 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). Ayush Sanjivani mobile app developed by Ministry of AYUSH has been also launched to generate data on acceptance and usage of AYUSH advocacies and measures among the population and its impact in prevention of COVID-19 targeting 05 million population. These studies are at various Stages.
vi) Ministry of AYUSH and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has taken an initiative to explore the areas of opportunities to collaborate on research on COVID-19. Under joint AYUSH-DBT Network Programme, a project has been designed to evaluate anti-viral and immune-modulatory activity of AYUSH herbs and formulations.
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