The Confederation of Ayurveda Organisations (CAO) will take out a protest march here on Friday against the ‘neglect’ of ayurveda in the draft state health policy of the State Government. As part of the protest, the CAO will also organise a ‘rights Declaration Convention’ at the Government Ayurveda College, CAO chairman V K Ajith Kumar and convenor Dr Rajith Anand said.
They alleged that as per the draft, ayurveda was not included in any of the public health programmes of the State Government.
“The draft health policy only deals with allopathy system and other recognised medical systems, including ayurveda have been avoided,’’ Ajith Kumar and Anand said. Stating that the draft had totally ignored Ayush scheme, they alleged that this system was not included because of pressure from some groups. If Ayush was not implemented, they said that the state was losing crores of Central funds.
Noting that ayurveda had played a key role in the development of the health sector in the state, they condemned the move to popularise only modern medicine. There was a great demand for ayurveda and as such this system of medicine should be given importance.
“More and more people are now turning towards ayurveda,’’ they said.
The CAO office-bearers also said that the people had the right to choose the system of medicine. They said that only one ayurveda doctor was included in the team of 15 members which drafted the policy.