VIJAYAWADA: A 25 to 50-bed Integrated AYUSH Research Hospital is planned for Nandigama, pending approval from the Union Ministry of AYUSH.
Union Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav assured the Lok Sabha that the Central government would approve the proposal once submitted by the Andhra Pradesh government.
The assurance came in response to a question from Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath (Chinni) during the Question Hour.
The MP inquired about the steps taken under the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) to establish the hospital, which will provide treatments in Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy, and Naturopathy.
Kesineni noted that over 3,000 AYUSH hospitals have been set up nationwide under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. He pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government had allocated land for a 25-bed AYUSH hospital in Nandigama in 2018. A recent survey found that 60-65% of local residents prefer AYUSH treatments, underscoring the need for the facility.
Chinni assured in a release that he would work with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to expedite the proposal’s submission to the Union AYUSH Ministry.
The hospital will have doctors and medicines from all AYUSH branches to serve Nandigama and nearby areas.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav informed the Lok Sabha that three microbiology laboratories in Andhra Pradesh have been modernised under the National Programme for the Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR).
Responding to a query from MPs Kesineni Sivanath and Matukumilli Sribharat, the minister said the upgraded labs are at Guntur Medical College, Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam, and SV Medical College in Tirupati.
Under the National Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (NARS-Net), 60 labs have been developed across India to curb antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Studies between 2017 and 2023 analyzed nine key microorganisms linked to AMR.
The government allocated `666.89 lakh for AMR training in 2021-22, `777.81 lakh in 2022-23, and `919 lakh in 2023-24.
Awareness campaigns, including posters, videos, and radio jingles in 12 languages, have also been launched.