Address at the Inauguration of the Arya Vaidya Sala's Centre for Medicinal Plants Research

HEALTH CARE AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

I am indeed delighted to be here at Kottakkal to inaugurate the Centre for Medicinal Plant Research of Arya Vaidya Sala. My greetings to Dr. P.K. Warrier, distinguished physicians, researchers, staff, students and all those associated with the Arya Vaidya Sala for their excellent contribution for promoting the cause of holistic medicine for removal of human misery and pain.

The Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala has made significant contributions in reforming and revitalizing Ayurveda, our ancient system of medical care, for the benefit of the suffering humanity. Ancient knowledge is a unique resource of India, for it has the treasure of a minimum of 5000 years of civilisation. I am also delighted to note that the Arya Vaidya Sala has opened a number of Centers across the country and its wide range of about 500 classical medicinal products which are manufactured according to the traditional Ayurvedic prescriptions under the supervision of qualified and quality-driven Ayurvedic physicians are available in rural, urban and metropolitan areas. The contributions made by the Vaidya Sala in providing effective remedies for various kinds of ailments such as chronic arthritis, paralysis, ulcers, discogenic diseases, degenerative diseases of central nervous system, neuro-muscular disorders. allergic diseases, eye diseases, psoriasis, psychiatric ailments, geriatric ailments etc., are indeed noteworthy and have achieved international recognition, which is evident from the fact that nearly 25% of the inpatients in the Ayurvedic Hospital and Research Centre at Kottakkal hail from other countries. Distinguished dignitaries and eminent personalities from within and outside the country have already been benefited. Free patient consultations at all the branches in the country, online consultation through website, around 1200 exclusive authorized distributors spread over the country and authorized distributors in some countries like UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Singapore and Malaysia, cultivation of herbs and rare medicinal plants over a vast acres of land, are some of the remarkable services offered by the Vaidya Sala.

The Vaidya Sala was consulted for treating patients affected due to radiation in Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia. In this sense the doctors from the Arya Vaidya Sala have become world citizens trying to alleviate pain and suffering of people with universal love and compassion.

Bio Diversity in India

India is blessed with more than 16 bio-climates which enable us to produce a variety of herbal plants. A contented combination of Ayurveda and modern biotechnology with the rich natural diversity could produce excellent results that will extend far beyond the borders of this country. The biggest resource, apart from this, is the highly trained manpower that is available in Ayurveda and other systems of medicine. That resource itself is good enough to guarantee the success of a clean industry dependent on biotechnology which will be one of the primary engines of growth and prosperity for the nation. I have absolutely no doubt that the strategies evolved in this regard would place adequate emphasis on having good value addition which alone will give meaning and substance to any such venture.

Bio Diversity - Technology Prosperity Matrix

One of the core competences of India is Bio Diversity. Bio Diversity and technology combined will yield value added products. In biodiversity, a few countries like INDIA, CHINA, BRAZIL, INDONESIA, and MEXICO are very rich. Technology is needed for developing a genetically engineered seed or transforming a molecule extracted from the herb into a drug. Today technologically advanced nations in this field are USA, JAPAN, FRANCE, GERMANY and UK. Integration of high productivity in farming, biodiversity material and technology is required. There are some regions in desert nations where biodiversity and technology are poor. Today there is no nation having rich bio-diversity and high technology together. Therefore the challenge is Integration of technological best and abundant biodiversity of India. Kottakkal Aryavaidya Sala can provide leadership for this mission.

Value Addition

I would like to recall the report of the sub-committee of Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) on herbal and natural products and flori-culture with Mrs. L.F. Poonawalla as chairperson. One of the major highlights of the report is short listing seven herbal plants (Aloe Vera, Rauwolfia serpentina, Centella asiatica, Bacopa Monnieri, Taxus baccata, Artemisia annua, Catharantus roseus) which are very important in view of their application as a drug, national and international demand and also economic benefits.

India is rich in herbs, germ plasm and micro organisms. Industrially developed countries are importing these bio-resources in the raw forms and adding value to them for export to developing countries including India as special seeds, medicines and bio-materials, fully protecting patents of these products. Instead of allowing export of such resources and importing value added products at high cost, India must add its own technology for conversion of such resources to value added products for domestic requirements and also for export.

Biotechnology in Health Care

I would like to share my experiences that I had while I was in Anna University, Chennai. One of them resulted in getting a patent for a new molecule discovered from a herb as an anti cancer drug. This came out of the fusion of two great minds, one was a bio technologist and the other was a traditional siddha medical practitioner. The traditional system of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha etc. have advocated and practiced preventive and curative medicinal recipes specific to individuals. The body, mind, food and environment were looked at holistically to suggest a preventive or curative approach to health. New technologies as evidenced by human genome sequencing, proteomics, chemogenomics, ultra high throughput screening is revolutionizing drug discovery. Medicinal plants offer enormous scope for development of drugs. We need to create database of traditional medicinal plants for specific bioactivity and lead for development of new drugs. India has got tremendous opportunities for herbal farming and research with focus on the following components.

• Development of invitro propagation methods for understudied and unstudied plants.
• Development of an effective network for dissemination of information, training and technology transfer and post harvest technology.
• Creation of Technology parks and demonstration units.
• Development of industries near farming areas for value added products.
• Consortium for collection of raw materials processing and marketing.
• Standardization of quality parameters. Centralized clinical trials and toxicological studies.

Bioinformatics

The convergence of bioscience and IT into Bioinformatics has given the thrust to researchers for genomics-based drug discovery and development. Pressure is mounting over the pharmaceutical companies to reduce or at least control costs, and have a growing need for new informatic tools to help manage the influx of data from genomics, and turn that data into tomorrow's drugs.

Bioinformatics data play a vital role and emerging as a business model for the medical and pharmaceutical sector. Key areas such as gene prediction, data mining, protein structure modelling and prediction, protein folding and stability, macromolecular assembly and modelling of complex biological systems are thriving and IT has major role to play in these areas in bringing the tools to manage the high throughput experiments and the data they generate, and sharing and integrating all the data in a meaningful way resulting into the detailed models of complex systems, particularly biological pathways.

Networking the Institutions

Our country is rich in human resources, particularly of scientists, doctors, technologists and engineers. The basic infrastructure is available for advanced research. The need of the hour is to network the existing facilities and expertise with commitment and conviction to augment and facilitate the pace of research and development. There are tremendous opportunities for technologists to work for an 'Integrated Health For All' in a mission mode which can be suitably evolved for implementation. I am glad to know that the Arya Vaidya Sala is doing collaborative research programmes with renowned national and international research institutions. The Vaidya Sala can further extend their scope of collaboration in the area of clinical research and drug development / certification, by taking lead in forging greater coordination between ICMR, National Board of Examinations (NBE), R & D laboratories, pharmaceutical industries and clinicians.

In India, we have rich clinical data which are getting generated from our various healthcare centres. We have only a few medical research institutions in India. The objective of research gets sidelined as these institutions need to cater to increased patients flow for treatment. Time has come to establish full fledged research centres leading to new discoveries of prevention and treatment methodologies using modern methods and heritage healing in an integrated manner. Such centres can play a vital role in fruitful integration of our ancient system of medical care and the advance research technologies for the larger benefit of mankind.

Mobile Clinics

In some parts of our country, Mobile Clinics and Research Centers are deployed to provide healthcare at the doorsteps of rural people through diagnosis and treatment. Such facilities, through collaborative efforts of research institutions, medical colleges, government agencies and NGOs should increase in number to provide healthcare services through mobile clinics with latest equipment for common treatment to those who are mostly unreached and cannot afford the medical facilities available in cities. I have seen such a mobile clinic equipped with modern equipment and onboard facilities supported by a team of doctors including a Lady Medical Officer and Paramedics. The Arya Vaidya Sala can also explore the possibility of extending its valuable services to the needy in remote areas through Ayurvedic mobile clinics using the widespread network of its authorized dealers.

HIV / AIDS - major thrust area

In spite of the fact that the average lifespan of population has significantly increased in the recent years including those in developing nations like India, the overall health profile has shown a decline with emergence of new threats like HIV/ AIDS and resurgence of eradicated diseases like small pox and controlled diseases like malaria showing virulence due to drug resistance and mutation of different strains. All systems of medicines should work together to develop effective vaccines for controlling the menace of such major health problems. In our national context HIV, TB and Malaria need special attention. Can we evolve an empowered consortium and integrated approach to find permanent and long lasting solutions? Incidents of non-communicable, stress related and psycho somatic diseases are showing a steep rise due to life style changes of modern human being. The mind-body-spirit in the control and management of such illness may be more effective. Bio-medical scientists can collaborate with the Arya Vaidya Sala for providing integrated approach to health care delivery.

Conclusion: Doctors as health awareness creators

Since every one of you is involved in the noble profession of removing the pain of the people, you can also play a vital role in preventing ailments through proper health education to the patient as well as to his or her relatives and friends through life style intervention. This can consist of a proper diet with low fat and high fibre, regular aerobic exercise like walking and stress management through Yoga, meditation and other methods. This can help in preventing the recurrence of the disease in the patient as well as promoting health awareness at all levels. When you remove the pains of the people, the patient becomes part and parcel of you and considers you almost as God. Hence, the patient will definitely accept your health education considering you as the most respected guru. Every patient receives his family members, relatives and friends when he is receiving healthcare in the hospital. That is the occasion where you can give this message of a healthy life style to all of them.

My best wishes to all of you.