Union minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal announced major investment to develop Ayush health sector in the State for which he requested the Government of Nagaland (GoN) to wisely utilize Rs 100 Crore at the earliest.
By Imna Longchar, TFM Nagaland Correspondent
Union minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday said that very soon an Ayurvedic college in Nagaland would be established with a total budget amounting to the tune of Rs 100 Crore.
Sonowal was speaking at the inaugural programme of the Integrated Ayush Hospital, Razha, Chedema, Kohima, where announced the major investment to develop the Ayush health sector in the State for which he requested the Government of Nagaland (GoN) to wisely utilze the amount at the earliest.
The investment includes 30 bedded Integrated Ayush Hospital at Kiphire, 10 bedded AYUSH hospitals each at Mokokchung, Nagaland University in Dimapur and Wokha and a state-of-the-art Ayurvedic college at Longleng with an estimated cost of Rs 70 crore. Sonowal, who is the first ever Union minister of Ayush to visit the state, said that with support from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Ministry of Ayush), Government of India, and also with support from the locales, has beautifully developed an integrated Ayush hospital.
Sonowal who said that whenever he visits Nagaland, he always felt at home due to the warm hospitalities, he also complimented that the Nagas are very beautiful by nature, characters, behaviours, beautiful in thinking and very beautiful by their works and efforts. Stating that Nagas are lucky to have blessed with the kind of natural resources which he said he sees a bright future ahead for the Nagas, the people of northeast and for the country, Sonowal insisted that with the kind of resources available, the sector has to be discovered and explored in a scientific manner by applying traditional skills and wisdoms.
Having acknowledged that there are more than thousands practicing the traditional methods of healing in the villages in Nagaland, Sonowal supplemented by saying that the villagers had inherited the particular skills of the traditional medicines and practices from their fore fathers which is a very important aspect of wisdom and skills, and knowledge and had been carrying for centuries. He also said that Nagaland has been blessed with enormous resources including with more than 100 species of medicinal plants for comfortable living of all creatures. For this he said that the government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the Ayush ministry has been giving priority to focus in projecting, promoting and for the development of the northeast.
Sonowal also shared that Modi till date has taken many initiatives from the front and it was him who appealed to the global society including the UNO to recognize the practice of Yoga globally for better health which the later had accepted it by declaring June 21 as “International Day of Yoga”. Informing that in present days, Ayush was getting a “centre stage” by rendering services through its products to protect the health of the humans, Sonowal also said that along with the many modern medicines, the system of traditional medicines has also played a vital role and as a result, Ayush products have become acceptable to the society around the globe.
Mentioning that the Ayush industry within a short span of time has created 18.2 billion dollars market around the globe, the union minister said he believed that it could build employment opportunities, and income generating industry.
Northeast region with immense potential to become the hub in the AYUSH sector, Sonowal said Nagaland is no exception with tremendous potential, be it topography or natural resources, which need to be tapped and explore in scientific manner by applying the traditional skill. Sonowal also unveiled the monolith of the Integrated Ayush Hospital and also virtually laid the foundation stone for Integrated Ayush Hospital at Tuli, Mokokchung, Nagaland University Medziphema Dimapur and Kiphire.
Meanwhile, minister Civil Aviation and Railways, Nagaland, P Paiwang Konyak, also submitted the DPR for Tizu-Zungki National Waterway 101 while a proposal for the early sanction of the first phase -1 would be submitted shortly.
Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Minister, S Pangnyu Phom, on Friday last said that Nagaland is rich in flora and fauna with a vast virgin forest and undiscovered valuable medicinal plants available in plenty. Pangyu said these have the scope to help produce AYUSH medicines with good quality. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Integrated Ayush Hospital at Razha, Chedema in Kohima.
Pangnyu said with the advancement in health science and technologies, these traditional Ayurvedic approaches have blended well with modern methods and have created awareness among today’s generation. Stating that now people were opting for Ayurvedic medicines more than ever, which have largely impacted the health care system, both in urban and rural areas in the state, Pangnyu stressed on the need to have an AYUSH Medical College in Nagaland and said this would help the young people to get educated and skilled in the benefits of the available medicinal plants and species in the state.
Pangyu informed that with the inauguration of the hospital, Nagaland will have three fully functional AYUSH hospitals and two hospitals are in the pipeline which is under construction. The minister later said that in addition to this, five AYUSH dispensaries are functioning as AYUSH Health and Wellness Centers, meeting the needs of the people.