Guwahati, Nov 2: As many as 78,026 patients have availed Ayurvedic treatment at 289 Ayush health and wellness centres (AHWCs) in Assam during the past six months, Union minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal informed on Thursday after inaugurating a 50-bed Ayurvedic hospital at Dudhnoi in Goalpara district.
“According to data received from the state between January and September of 2023, as many as 78,026 people got benefitted through the Ayush system of medicine. The Ayush ministry has released Rs 121.75 crore till date to Assam for setting up AHWCs, integrated Ayush hospitals, educational institutes, dispensaries as well as Ayush public health programmes,” Sonowal said.
“I believe that Ayush based geriatric programmes will strengthen the Ayush systems in the Northeastern states,” the Union minister said.
It may be mentioned that the Ayurvedic hospital at Dudhnoi is the second such facility to be opened in Assam in less than a month after Majuli. The hospital is equipped with all major facilities, including a state-of-the-art laboratory, a Panchakarma centre, an infertility clinic, a yoga unit apart from OPD and IPD services.
Sonowal further informed that work was underway to set up 200 more AHWCs, eight Integrated Ayush hospitals and Ayush educational institutions in Assam.
He further expressed satisfaction that the people of Dudhnoi and its adjoining areas could now avail India’s rich heritage of Ayurveda.
“As Assam, along with the rest of the Northeast, receives focussed attention to become the engine of growth for India’s next economic resurgence, it is important to have a robust healthcare infrastructure, which is modern, inclusive and integrated,” he said.
Since 2014, the central government has opened 33 integrated Ayush hospitals in the Northeast, of which nine are currently operational.
As many as 879 AHWCs are being set up in the region, with 492 reported functional.
