• Loreni Tsanglao, NET Correspondent, Nagaland 

The Union Minister of Ports Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH – Sarbananda Sonowal today announced that a major investment of more than Rs 100 Crores will be disbursed to develop the AYUSH Healthcare sector in the state of Nagaland.

One AYUSH hospital with 30 beds and three ten-bed hospitals, as well as one Ayurvedic college, would be constructed in the state with the allocated funds.

The Union Minister also opened an integrated AYUSH hospital at Razha Chedema, Kohima, earlier today. The 30-bed AYUSH hospital will be built in Kihpire, while the 10-bed AYUSH hospitals will be built in Mokokchung, Nagaland University in Dimapur, and Wokha. The Union Minister announced the establishment of a state-of-the-art Ayurvedic college in Longleng to boost AYUSH higher education in the region. This college is expected to cost Rs 70 crores.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “The Northeast has an immense potential to become the hub in the AYUSH sector. The beautiful state of Nagaland is no exception with a lot of potential to be tapped. With our rich traditional knowledge base in folk medicine & the bounty of flora that Mother Nature has blessed us with, it is important that we seize this opportunity. We can become the springboard for AYUSH sector in the country and create an eco-system to provide health & wellness solutions for people of India as well as our neighbouring countries. This will give us economic strength and our community will be blessed with a healing touch to treat human illness.”

The Ministry of AYUSH has been making a sincere attempt to unlock the huge value that the rich bio-diverse region of Northeast possess.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a goal to realise this potential by empowering the people of the Northeast and the area to become India’s new growth engine. He has urged the government to commit to and give all platforms for the Northeast to seize their potential.

The AYUSH Minister – guided by this vision to enable the people of Northeast – has provided a shot in the arm for the AYUSH sector in the region with an investment of Rs 172 crores – in Nagaland and Mizoram put together. As many as ten new AYUSH hospitals will be built in these two states and one Ayurvedic college will be built.

Speaking about the role of AYUSH in propelling growth & wellness in the region, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal further added, “Our vision is to empower the rich Indian traditional medicinal practices – be it Ayurveda, Yoga, Unnani, Siddha, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy, Sowa Rigpa – with modern scientific validation for wider & popular usage by the people. Our folk medicines have been helpful in treating human civilisation since time immemorial. It is important that they are preserved – using modern scientific approach & tools – so that they can be useful for generations to come. The holistic approach to patient care & healthy lifestyle includes both preventive as well as curative aspects. The AYUSH traditional medicinal practices have been traditionally taking care of both these aspects.”

Talking about the steps taken to preserve & conserve the folk medicine in the region, the Union AYUSH Minister said, “In order to learn & leverage the folk medicine, the AYUSH ministry is conducting a multi centric research project to critically appraise and validate Local Health Traditions (LHT), Oral health Traditions (OHT) and Ethno Medicinal Practices (EMP) among ethnic communities of the Northeast.”

Earlier, State Minister of Health & Family Welfare S Pangnyu Phom in his speech that with this inauguration the State will now have 3 fully functional Ayush Hospitals & Two Hospitals are in pipeline which is under construction.

“In addition, 5 (Five) Ayush Dispensaries are functioning as Ayush Health & Wellness Centre flourishing and meeting the needs of the people on daily basis also rejuvenating and discovering new medicinal plants which is helping the locals, rural people to preserve, cultivate and produce more of such plants enabling them to earn their livelihood and also benefitting their health system in many aspects”, he said.

Meanwhile, the minister informed that the cost of Razha Project was Rs. 9.17 Cr, which was sanctioned in the year 2018 with an area measuring 3.50 acres.

Highlighting that Nagaland, though a small State is rich in flora & fauna with the virgin forest and undiscovered valuable medicinal plants availability and the scope to help produce AYUSH medicine in good quantity, Pangyu pointed out that being a developing State, to explore- all these available resources and raw materials the State Government and the Department requires Financial & other Logistics support from the Government Of India & the Ministry of AYUSH for the improvement and expansion of AYUSH in the State which will ultimately pave a way to grow & take forward AYUSH in Nagaland into a different level which in return will be helpful to the people of the State and the Nation in a bigger way.

The programme was also attended by Minister of Urban Development & Municipal Affairs of Government of Nagaland, Dr Niekiesalie Kire along with senior officials of Nagaland government and AYUSH ministry.