It has been Eight months to NDA government at the centre and there have been all sorts of mixed opinions from people on their work style. The government has made plans on all the different sectors including health which is the basic priority of citizens. The NDA government has already set aside around 39,000 crores for the health sector which includes the setting up of 15 model rural health research centres,4 new AIIMS-like institutions which will be situated in Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Government will also provide advancement to strengthen the States’ Drug Regulatory and Food Regulatory Systems by creating new drug testing laboratories and strengthening the 31 existing state laboratories. Moreover, it is also planning to provide free health insurance to the poor. An important step, it has taken is to clear National Ayush Mission to address gaps in health services in vulnerable and far-flung areas of the country. Through ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homoeopathy mission, the Centre seeks to support the efforts of state governments for providing Ayush health services and education in the country, particularly in vulnerable and remote areas. This is a great step to revive the old traditional method of curing diseases. Government has already approved setting-up of 18 new ayurveda colleges this year. But the fact lies that as aelopathic medicines are approved after huge amount of research and trials, the same process is not used in any drug trial under AYUSH in modern times. There were days when herbs went through a lot of research before bringing them in use. But today, there are only a few of them and there process of testing is also not upto the mark. Some of the top health journalists argue that AYUSH medicines can never be compared with the research the drug companies go through. So, to promote AYUSH is a good step by the NDA Regime but it needs to see that proper education is given into testing the herbs and especial laboratories should be made for this specific purpose so that the revival of age old method of treatment shouldn’t be limited only to the poorer sections of the society as an alternative.
Though most of the blue print has been designed By the authorities, yet nothing significant has been done practically in the sphere of health. It’ll be interesting to see how the NDA government works out on it’s promises and plans to make India a more healthier nation.
Everything under the sun 