Will the Minister of AYURVEDA, YOGA AND NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY(AYUSH) be pleased to state:
(a) the details of measures taken by the Government to promote Indian Medicinal System in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic;
(b) whether the Government has assessed the impact of Indian Medicinal System in tackling Coronavirus; and
(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
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): The details of measures taken by the Government to promote Indian Medicinal System in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic are as follows:
i. Ministry of AYUSH issued an advisory on 29.01.2020 on how to protect oneself from COVID and how to stay healthy. Ministry has written letter 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 system of AYUSH (including Ayurveda and Homoeopathy) 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 Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force constituted by Ministry of AYUSH 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 has taken up the proposals received from screening committees of Councils and proactively explored possibilities based on available leads. The studies are at various stages.
iv. The Ministry of AYUSH has 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 Post Graduate Training and Research in Ayurved (IPGTRA), Jamnagar, and National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur , Central Council for Research in Ayurveda (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN) and other national research organizations as per the Report & Recommendations of the Interdisciplinary Committee wherein guidelines for post-covid care has been mentioned. This protocol is based on:
1. Knowledge from Ayurveda literature and clinical experience
2. Empirical evidences and Biological plausibility
3. Emerging trends of ongoing clinical studies
Salient features of this protocol includes management of prophylactic, Asymptomatic, Mild and Moderate cases of COVID-19 along with of post-management.
v. Further, considering the importance of immunity boosting measures in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, Ministry of AYUSH has promoted use of ready-made Ayush formulation i.e. ‘Ayush Kwath’(Ayurveda) or ‘Ayush Kudineer’(Siddha) or ‘Ayush Joshanda’(Unani) in the interest of health promotion to the masses.
vi. Ministry of AYUSH has issued an order on 28.07.2020 regarding directions to state/UT licensing Authorities to forward license application of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic medicines underwent clinical trial/ research studies for COVID-19.
vii. Ministry of AYUSH advised to States/UTs to assign the AYUSH facilities under their administrative control for supporting the treatment of the Covid 19 patients.
(b) & (c): Ministry of AYUSH has developed AYUSH Sanjivani mobile app and has documented the impact assessment of effectiveness, acceptance and usage of AYUSH advisories & measures in the prevention of COVID-19 through Mobile app based population study in around 1.5 crores respondents. 85.1% of the respondents reported use of AYUSH measures for prevention of COVID-19, among which 89.8% respondents agreed to have benefitted from the practice of AYUSH advisory. 79.1% of the users responded that the AYUSH measures gave an overall feeling of good health. 63.4% reported improvement in parameters of wellbeing like sleep, appetite, bowel habits, stamina and mental wellbeing.