Traditional Medicine in Asia

the community. Health departments must
appoint the right blend of survey staff to
document this knowledge, which will
otherwise disappear forever along with the
disappearance of forests, tribal communities
and village doctors. Having
documented it, the next step is to identify
areas of current importance where the
remedy appears to offer a net advantage
over available medicaments and to conduct
observational or animal studies (in the case
of unknown plants) to test their efficacy.
Need for establishing an
infrastructure for Traditional
Medicine with supporting
Legislation
Infrastructure for Indian Systems
of Medicine & Homoeopathy
Six systems of traditional medicine are
nationally recognized by the Government
of India and the state governments –
Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Yoga Naturopathy
and Homoeopathy. There is a fullfledged,
independent Department under
the Ministry of Health of the Union
Role of traditional systems of medicine in national health care systems
Government with a Secretary, who reports
to the Union Ministers for Health. Public
health is a State subject under the Indian
Constitution and 18 state governments in
the country have set up Directorates of
Indian Systems of Medicine & Homoeopathy.
Some states have independent
ministers in-charge of the non-allopathic
recognized systems. India has the following
capacity in the traditional medicine sector
(Table 4).
Drug Licensing for Traditional
Medicine
The drug-based systems, viz., Ayurveda,
Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, are
covered by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act
of the country and the rules made
thereunder. The licencing authorities for
traditional medicine drugs are appointed
by the state government, which implements
the rules. However, the powers to modify
the Act and rules rest with the Union
Government, which is guided by the Drugs
Technical Advisory Board for Ayurveda,
Siddha and Unani drugs and a Drugs
Table 4. Infrastructure for Indian systems of medicine and
homoeopathy (1999)
System Colleges Registered Licensed
Under- Post- Traditional Pharmacies of
graduate graduate Practitioners Traditional Medicine
Ayurveda 196 49 3,66,812 8,405
Unani 40 03 40,748 549
Siddha 02 01 12,911 417
Homoeopathy 149 15 1,88,527 903
Naturopathy – – 402 –
Admission Capacity
Hospitals of ISM&H
14,255 700
(in Govt. Sector) 2,854
Beds in hospitals of ISM&H
Dispensaries of ISM&H
49,353
(in Govt. Sector) 22,735
151