Modi bats for traditional medicine at WHO meet

Addressing the closing ceremony of Second WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine, Modi said strengthening research, increasing the use of digital technology in the field of traditional medicine and creating regulatory frameworks that can be trusted worldwide would greatly empower traditional medicine.

“For centuries, Ashwagandha has been used in India’s traditional medical systems. During the Covid-19 pandemic, its global demand rose sharply and it began to be used in many countries,” said Modi, adding that India, through its research and evidence-based validation, was advancing Ashwagandha in a credible manner.

He said earlier there was a perception that traditional medicine was limited to wellness and lifestyle. He added that this perception was changing rapidly, highlighting that traditional medicine could play an effective role even in critical situations, and India was moving forward with this vision.

“Yoga, an integral part of the traditional medicine system, has shown the path of health, balance and harmony to the entire world,” said the PM.

He recalled that through India’s efforts and the support of more than 175 countries, the United Nations declared 21 June as International Yoga Day. He also highlighted the launch of the Traditional Medicine Global Library as a global platform to preserve scientific data and policy documents related to traditional medicine in one place. The announcement of this library was made during India’s G20 Presidency at the first WHO Global Summit in 2023.

Emphasising that India was focusing on partnerships of healing across the world, Prime Minister Modi shared two significant collaborations, noting that the first is the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for BIMSTEC countries, covering South and South-East Asia, and the second is a collaboration with Japan aimed at integrating science, traditional practices, and health.

Modi remarked that Ayurveda equates balance with health, and only those whose bodies maintain this balance are truly healthy. He pointed out that diseases ranging from diabetes, heart attacks, and depression to cancer often have lifestyle and imbalances as their underlying causes, including work-life imbalance, diet imbalance, sleep imbalance, gut microbiome imbalance, calorie imbalance, and emotional imbalance.

During the event the Prime Minister inaugurated the new WHO-South East Asia Regional Office complex in Delhi, which will also house the WHO India Country Office. My Ayush Integrated Services Portal (MAISP), a master digital portal for the Ayush sector and Ayush Mark, which is envisioned as a global benchmark for quality of Ayush products and services were unveiled by Modi.

He noted that the Ministry of Ayush and the WHO-Traditional Medicine Center have made a joint effort to strengthen integrative cancer care in India, under which traditional medical systems will be combined with modern cancer treatment. He emphasized that this initiative will also help in preparing evidence-based guidelines.