Maharashtra Government plans to set up All India Institute of Ayurveda on Konkan coastline

According to DNA reporter, the state may soon get an All India Institute of Ayurveda on the Konkan coastline providing necessary boost for research and education in Ayurveda. Apart from the centrally-run institution, the Maharashtra government is also planning to set up a special Panchakarma centre near it to attract tourists, including international visitors.

The government is eager to locate the facility in the Konkan considering the connectivity to Goa, where a large number of foreign tourists flock to, availability of medicinal plants in the Western Ghats region and access to airports and railheads and urban centres like Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur. A location in Sindhudurg district is being considered for the project though other sites in the area may also be evaluated and selected based on its feasibility.

The government of India’s ministry for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) is also starting an All India Institute of Ayurveda in Delhi, which will be a referral hospital and impart education. This has been proposed as an apex institution for Ayurveda on lines of the prestigious AIIMS. The Narendra Modi-led government, which is keen on promoting Yoga and indigenous systems of medicine, has also launched the National AYUSH Mission (NAM), to promote these systems.

The state government is keen to get an All India Institute of Ayurveda in Maharashtra. “This will be an apex body for education and will offer under-graduate, post-graduate and doctoral courses. It will have a training centre, an attached drug standardisation facility and will undertake research on medicinal plants,” a senior state government official told dna.

“The state government will give land to the Centre and the institute will be run and operated by the government of India. The state is looking at setting up a panchakarma centre there as we do not want to lose the opportunity as this… will help us attract tourists and give a boost to medical tourism,” he added, noting that the facilities like Ayurvedic massages and other treatments would be available at rates cheaper than those offered in starred hotels in Kerala and neighbouring Goa.

“The Institute will require around 50 acres of land while another 25 acres will be used for the state government’s panchakarma facility. We are keen to establish this in the Konkan considering factors like the availability of medicinal plants, proximity to Goa and communication facilities like airports,” said another official, adding that the proposal was at the preliminary stage.

“One of the main functions of the institute will be research,” the official noted, adding that they hoped to attract tourists, including foreign arrivals, considering the renewed interest in Ayurveda abroad.

Maharashtra has four government-run ayurveda colleges at Mumbai, Nanded, Osmanabad and Nagpur, and provides grant-in-aid to 16 private Ayurveda colleges. Though it provides grants to three Unani colleges in Mumbai, Malegaon and Pune, the state government has no Unani or Homeopathy colleges of its own.