Largest database of Siddha treatment focusing on COVID-19 to be created through Ayush Sanjivani app

Ayush Sanjivani mobile app will keep an updated record of the experiences that will be reported by practitioners, patients and suspects who were given Siddha medicines.

As the number of coronavirus cases are shooting up in the country, Ministry of Ayush, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have extended their helping hand to institutions working on traditional medicines such as Siddha in Tamil Nadu to fight a long battle against the pandemic, reported the news agency PTI. The report further stated that at least two institutions reckoned as premier Siddha institutes, Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) and the National Institute of Siddha (NIS), have been developing comprehensive databases on the role traditional medicines can play in the prevention of COVID-19. These institutions are compiling the detailed database on the Ayush Sanjivani mobile app and they claim that the preparations can help both India and the countries across the world, PTI added in its report.

The research process to assess the role of Tamil Nadu-grown Siddha medicines is being conducted by a central task force headed by the ICMR. The Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) and the National Institute of Siddha (NIS), have taken the responsibility of carrying out future research along with validation of the Siddha system of medicine and its impact on coronavirus infections.

The Director-General of the CCRS, Chennai has said to PTI that the aim of the ongoing research process is enlist the support of one billion users including Siddha practitioners, research scholars, students, patients, and their relatives for the Ayush Sanjivani mobile app.

Then, the Ayush Sanjivani mobile app will keep an updated record of the experiences that will be reported by practitioners, patients and suspects who were given Siddha medicines during their quarantine period. This will ultimately lead to an evidence-based study of Siddha’s role as a group of drugs that can be used for multiple purposes in coronavirus disease such as in prophylaxis and also as an immunity booster.

The Ministry of Aayush will have to rely on surveys to find out the impact of Ayurveda-based home remedies suggested by them in March at the start of the pandemic to ascertain the impact of traditional and indigenous remedies against the coronavirus disease.