Indian traditional medicine to go global as Cabinet approves WHO Global Centre in India

Indian traditional medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani and other forms of treatment will get a major boost and get global reach after a significant development in India.

In a move that can have a far-reaching impact, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the establishment of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM) in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The Government has signed a Host Country Agreement between the Government of India and the World Health Organization (WHO).

A Cabinet statement released on March 9 said, “The WHO GCTM will be established in Jamnagar under the Ministry of AYUSH. This would be the first and only global outposted Centre (office) for traditional medicine across the globe.”

The statement has listed a whole of benefits that traditional Indian Medicine will have after the setting up on WHO GCTM. These are: -

to position AYUSH systems across the globe

to provide leadership on global health matters pertaining to traditional medicine.

To ensure quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine.

To develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies, for collecting data undertaking analytics, and assess impact. Envisage WHO TM Informatics centre creating a collaborative of existing TM Data banks, virtual libraries, and academic and research institutes.

To develop specific capacity building and training programmes in the areas of relevance to the objectives and conduct training programmes in campus, residential, or web-based, and through partnerships with the WHO Academy and other strategic partners.