‘Peripheral OPD at Smit will cater to 40,000 resid
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 22: The North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homeopathy will also train traditional healers of Meghalaya, thereby equipping them to treat more people effectively, said Union Minister of AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday.
Sonowal was in the city to inaugurate multiple projects at the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH), in Mawdiangdiang to scale its capacity.
He said, “Both the NEIAH and the Institute of Ayurveda and Folk Medicine Research in Pasighat is to provide a significant platform for traditional healers to showcase their inherited abilities and knowledge passed down through generations.”
The research conducted by these institutions will document these traditional healing practices, thus preserving and legitimising their contributions to medicine.
The Ayush minister inaugurated the guest house and laid foundation stones for the administrative building, and pharmacy building, as well as a boundary wall with a periphery road complete with external electrification including entry and exit gates.
The estimated cost of the building is pegged at Rs 27.30 crore. The pharmacy building will be built with an investment of Rs 15.33 crore for a G+3 building with 1833 square meters. The boundary wall with the periphery road with external electrification including the entry/exit gate is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 12.72 crore, and the land was donated by the Dorbar of Mawdiangdiang, free of cost, for the entry and exit gate.
Sonowal, thanking the Dorbar for the same mentioned that this will be a step forward in the direction of Medical Value Travel Tourism Destination, and Shillong being the Scoatland of The east, is the perfect destination.
Sonowal also announced that Peripheral OPD services will be started at Smit, East Khasi Hills district which will potentially be accessed by 40,000 people living in 20 villages. The minister also informed that NEIAH has started Swarnabindu Prashan Sanskar (Ayurvedic Immunno Modulation in Children) at its Ayurveda Hospital.
With this programme, the government is helping patients with Ayurvedic solutions to treat Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) among tribal females between 18 and 45 years in Mawpat and Mylliem Block of East Khasi Hills district under the AYURSWASTHYA Yojana.
The Union Minister of State for Ayush and Women & Child Development, Dr Munjapara Mahendra also virtually joined on the occasion.
The Secretary of Ayush, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha; the Vice Chancellor of Northeastern Hill University (NEHU), Prof PS Shukla; the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, BK Singh; along with the Director, NEIAH, Prof Neeta Maheskar were among the dignitaries present.