Ministries of Ayush and Health sign MoU to promote integrative health research and establish research centers at AIIMS
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Ministry of Ayush to work together and encourage integrative health research. The purpose of this cooperation is to focus on identified areas of national importance in healthcare and generate evidence utilizing modern scientific methods. The signing ceremony was attended by senior officials of both ministries, including Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, and Minister of State for MoHFW Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar.
According to Sarbananda Sonowal, the research cooperation in Integrated Medicine is a step forward in providing a solution to the major challenge faced by the traditional medicine system of generating scientific evidence. He emphasized that the close cooperation between the Ministry of Ayush and ICMR will benefit the public at large hugely. Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya stated that the MoU will help traditional knowledge create a niche and further develop Ayurveda as an evidence-based science.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Ayush and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will facilitate the joint establishment of Ayush-ICMR Centers for Advanced Research in Integrative Health at all AIIMS with co-funding. They will explore the possibility of working on public health research, take initiatives for addressing diseases of national importance, and conduct high-quality clinical trials jointly on identified areas/disease conditions of national importance.
The signing of the MoU will allow for the potential inclusion of Integrative Medicine research in the “National ethical guidelines for biomedical and health research involving human participants” by ICMR-DHR. The two parties will also set up a joint working group that will convene on a quarterly basis to investigate new areas of cooperation, develop and implement joint research projects and programs, and enable joint oversight of activities.
The development of a curriculum and facilitation of training modules for Ayush researchers will be led by ICMR, with the aim of enhancing research capacity. Collaboratively, the Ministry of Ayush and ICMR will design and host conferences, workshops, and seminars on Integrative healthcare, with the involvement of enthusiastic researchers. During this meeting, several matters related to coordination and cooperation were deliberated upon, and both ministries reached a mutual agreement on many significant issues.