Panaji, Dec 12 (Agency) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for promoting Ayurveda across the world. Addressing the valedictory function of 4-day World Ayurveda Congress here, he said, ‘I am happy that more than 30 countries have accepted Ayurveda as a traditional system of medicine. Together, we have to spread it to more countries. We have to give recognition to Ayurveda. ”Ayurveda talks of not only treatment but wellness as well. It promotes wellness. World too is returning towards this old philosophy of life. I am happy that India has been working on this since log back. Now the world is celebrating Yoga day as a festival of health and wellness. Earlier, Yoga and Ayurveda used to be neglected but now they have emerged as new hope for humanity’ he said. He stressed on documentation of data-based evidence in Ayurveda. ‘We had results and impact but we were lagging behind due to proof in Ayurveda. Therefore, there is a need to document the data based evidence. And for this we will have to continuously work for a long time. We will have to verify all the claims,’ he said. He said the government is working on developing the National Ayush Consortium.
Stating that the AYUSH industry is growing exponentially, the Prime Minister said there is a need to take advantage of market expansion and benefits related to it. ‘Lots of new opportunities are emerging in the field of Ayush. It has opportunities for all. There are 40,000 MSMEs engaged in AYUSH which provide strength to the local economy. AYUSH industry, which was worth Rs 20,000 crore 8 years ago, has now gone up to 1,50,000 crore today. It means it grew 7 times. In the near the future it is bound to grow. Herbal medicine is worth about Rs 10 lakh crore while the traditional medicine market is expanding. Therefore we should take advantage of it,’ he said.He said tourist states like Goa should boost tourism by promoting Ayurveda and Naturopathy. The Prime Minister expressed confidence that All India Institute of Ayurveda, Goa, National Institute of Unani Medicine, Ghaziabad, and National Institute of Homeopathy, Narela, New Delhi, which were inaugurated today will provide momentum to Ayush health care system.