Traditional healthcare needs to be promoted: Union min

SHILLONG: Union Minister Shripad Yesso Naik on Thursday said there was a need to preserve traditional healthcare practices among different ethnic groups and tribes in the North East.
Addressing the gathering after inaugurating the permanent campus of North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH) at Mawdiangdiang on Thursday, the Minister of State holding Independent charge of the Ayush Ministry said traditional treatment should be validated based on ethno-botanical and scientific research with practical suitability for clinical practices.
“NEIAH will give additional benefits to the inter-disciplinary research and cooperation for exploring biological sciences,” he said and added that the establishment of this institute will produce quality medical graduates in streams of Ayurveda and homoeopathy and solve the problem of scarcity of doctors in the remote and hilly backward areas in the region.
Earlier, Health and Family Welfare Minister Roshan Warjri asked the Union Minister to provide more funds to the State to promote Ayurveda.
The director of the institute, P.K Goswami, said large availability of flora and fauna in the region and the establishment of the institute will help in research.
He also informed that the project was sanctioned in 2008 and it is functional with its OPD services with effect from November 4, 2010, adding that    the campus has OPD, IPD and community services covering Ayurveda, homoeopathy and yoga.
There are 96 students in the institute, including 37 students from the North East region. The institute at the moment has a 60-bed Ayurveda and a 20-bed homoeopathy hospitals and the total project cost for the first phase of the institute was Rs 71 crore.
The second phase of the project will be taken up shortly at a cost of around Rs 50 crore, which would have other infrastructure including hostels for the institute.