The Regional Review Meeting of NERern states of India was ceremonially inaugurated by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal along with Chief Minister of Assam, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma here today. The ceremony was also attended by health ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura along with senior officials from Meghalaya, Nagaland as well as other states of the region. The Union Minister of State for Ayush and Women & Child Development, Dr. Mahendrabhai Munjapara along with Secretary of Ministry of Ayush, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha and other senior officials from the ministry, state governments were also present.

The Union Ayush Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal chaired the Regional Review Meeting of NERern states here today. During the meeting, all the participating states - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim & Tripura presented detailed presentations on the state of Ayush and progress of leading Ayush programmes under implementation. The Health Ministers of the states who physically attended and deliberated in the brainstorming session were Alo Libang of Arunachal Pradesh; Dr Sapam Ranjan Singh of Manipur; Dr R Lalthangliana of Mizoram; Kunga Nima Lepcha of Sikkim and Finance Minister of Tripura, Pranajit Singha Roy.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Today, we had a very fruitful discussion on the promotion and propagation of Ayush system of medicine in the country. Along with the rest of the world, the importance and popularity of traditional system of medicine has risen significantly in our beautiful Himalayan region. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, India has made significant progress in reinventing the age old and proven benefits of traditional system of medicine to enrich the quality of lives of the people. Modi ji has not only encouraged the use of traditional medicine in India but has also led a global movement to invest, innovate and integrate traditional medicine with modern medicine to develop a holistic line of healthcare solutions. In this spirit, I would like to call all the states of NER India to explore the possibility of setting up an Integrated Ayush Department in all its leading state hospitals, in line with the setting up of similar departments in all 19 AIIMS, under the guidance of Modi ji. Today, we are presented with this unique opportunity to kick start a movement to set up integrated medicine departments in all our leading state hospitals, thereby popularising and implementing the concept of Integrated medicine to be emulated by the whole country. We can realise the vision of Modi ji by further boosting traditional medicine practices and become hub of an Ayush led economic growth, promoting employment & trade, especially in the Himalayan region of our country.”

During the deliberations, the Health Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Alo Libang said that the state is planning to set up a full fledged Directorate of Ayush Healthcare Services to promote traditional medicine in the Himalayan state. A Special Panchakarma Centre in the middle of Loktak lake was proposed to be set up, as confirmed by the Health Minister of Manipur, Dr Sapam Ranjan Singh. The Mizoram Health Minister, Dr R Lalthangliana also applauded the benefit of traditional medicine and how Ayush gram initiative and Jan Arogya Samiti is popularising the Ayush system of medicine in the state. 

Ministry of Ayush is supporting the efforts of State/UT Governments for implementation of different activities as proposed by the States through their respective State Annual Action Plans (SAAPs) through Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of National Ayush Mission (NAM). NAM is the flagship scheme of Ministry of Ayush, Govt of India.