AYUSH Ministry reconstitutes ASUDTAB

The Union government of India’s Ministry of AYUSH(Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) has reconstituted the Ayurvedic Siddha and Unani Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUDTAB) by replacing a few of the members it had selected last time back in April 2015.

The Director-General of Health Services (DGHS), Union Government of India, will continue to keep the responsibility as the chairman of the Board, while its advisor dealing with the drugs in the Ministry will be the secretary.

Apart from the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) and the Advisory, the Drug Controller General of India, and the director of Central Drugs Laboratory, Kolkata would remain as the ex-officio members of the Board.

Other chief members will include:

⦁ Dr. Neeraj Tandon, who is head of the Medicinal Plants Division of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),

⦁ Dr. Pulok K Mukherjee who is the director of the Institute of Bioresources and sustainable development, Manipur,

⦁ Dr. C K Kaithal, chief executive officer of Health care (Technical), Emami Ltd, who was on the Board earlier, will continue with the reconstituted ASUDTAB.

The others appointed as nominee members include

⦁ Dr. Prakash Hegde of the Department of Dravya Guna,

⦁ Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara of College of Ayurveda and Hospital of Karnataka;

⦁ Prof. Tajuddin of the Department of Ilmul Advil of Aligarh Muslim University

⦁ Dr. G Veluchamy, the former director of Council Research Institute for Siddha at Chennai;

⦁ Dr. Sumit Nathani, the associate professor at the Department of Dravya Guna of the National Institute of Ayurveda at Jaipur;

⦁ Dr. F S Shernani, the professor and dean at Aligarh Muslim University

⦁ Dr. M Krishnaveni, the professor of Gunapadam at Government Siddha Medical College of Chennai.

The 20-member Board also has Dr. L Sivakumar, S K M Siddha and Ayurveda Company, Erode; Lal Hingorani of Pharmanza Herbal Pvt Ltd of Gujarat, Dr. Asad Mueed, the trustee and governing body member of Hamdard National Foundation; Dr. P Selva Shanmugam the president of World Siddha Trust of Chennai; Santosh Nepulkar Deerghayu Ayurved Swasthyalay from Aurangabad; and Dr. Sabahat Ullah Amoroha, from Uttar Pradesh, as members.

The Board was earlier constituted in April 2015, when the nominee members included Sanjay Srivastava from Maharishi Ayurveda, Dr. Rabinarayan Acharya from the Institute of Pharmacy Teaching and Research, Mohsin Dehlvi from Delhi Naturals were appointed along with others in the Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUDTAB). These members will no longer be part of the Board with the new notification coming into effect.The Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) was created by the union government o India to regulate, assist and promote the five Indian medical systems contained in its name that is Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. Efforts are being made to bring these medical systems into the spheres of recognized and organized systems of medicine by the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) ministry. While some of these systems, like yoga and Ayurveda, have gained popularity worldwide thanks to the efforts made by the union government of India, The world yoga day, which falls on June 21, 2022, is now recognized and celebrated in different parts of the world. Others like Sidda’s system of medicine are relatively unknown, and it is to be hoped that it will change soon.

The union ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) is trying hard to institutionalize these medical systems into the organized sector with the blessing of prime minister Narendra Modi. It is the function of the Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUDTAB) to provide proper expert advice for this purpose.