Medicinal plants vanishing due to deforestation: Hek

SHILLONG: The state government is concerned over the fact that medicinal plants are disappearing fast from the state due to burning of the jungle and rampant cutting of forests.
Talking to media persons after holding a meeting with the traditional healers on Wednesday, Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek said traditional healing should be scientific.
Stating that the administration of traditional medicine has been practiced by different communities of the state since time immemorial for treating various ailments and diseases, he, however, added that most of the traditional healers in the state are practising traditional healing individually and there is no record as to how many of them are genuine.
“We want to create awareness so that the practice of traditional healing will be in a professional way as many of them are practising it haphazardly which cannot be sustain and we want to have a revenue model for them,” Hek added.
Hek maintained that Kerala has progressed far ahead than others in treating patients of various diseases with traditional Ayurvedic medicine and they have also applied scientific knowledge in this regard and Meghalaya government on the same line is keen to develop health tourism as well.
He also pointed out that there are only a few traditional healers who can identify herbal plants and added that the government would like to have expertise on the subject from outside the state as well as the country.
Sharing their experiences, traditional healers informed that they have been successful in treating fractures, toothache and snakebites by using medicinal herbs.