Consumption of ayurvedic medicines/products has increased during COVID-19 pandemic with the Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation Limited (IMPCL), a government enterprise and manufacturer of ayurveda and unani medicines, registering sales of ₹69.60 crore up to August 2020 as compared to last year’s ₹26.73 crore out of which the IMPCL has sold COVID-19 medicines approximately ₹30 crore to the various Central/State institutions/Autonomous as well as open market across the country.
The Ministry of Ayush replying to a question in the Lok Sabha earlier this week said it had at the beginning of the pandemic written to all States/UTS with specific suggestions on augmentation of general immunity of people and about possible AYUSH intervention.
It said the manufacture for sale of Ayurvedic drugs required valid licence from State Licensing Authorities under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 & Rules 1945.
“The Ministry of AYUSH issued an advisory in January on how to protect oneself from COVID and how to stay healthy and followed it up with individual correspondence to States and UTs. It also issued self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and boosting immunity with special reference to respiratory health,’’ it said.
It said early on in the pandemic it has written to the Health Ministry also offering for integrating and utilising the huge AYUSH infrastructure to combat the pandemic and also to principals of all Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) colleges (approximately 727) for offering their services to local health authorities for utilisation of the facilities by them as the situation arises.
The Ayush Sanjivani mobile app developed by the Ministry of AYUSH has also been launched to generate data on acceptance and usage of AYUSH advocacies and measures among the population and its impact in prevention of COVID-19 targeting over 4 million population.
“These studies are at various stages. The Ministry of AYUSH and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has taken an initiative to explore the areas of opportunities to collaborate on research on COVID-19. Under joint AYUSH-DBT Network Programme, a project has been designed to evaluate anti-viral and immune-modulatory activity of AYUSH herbs and formulations,’’ said the Ministry.