Satellite Institute Programme

All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), the apex institute of Ayurveda in India under the Ministry of AYUSH, and Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital (VMMC & SJ Hospital) have signed an MoU to develop a unique centre of excellence model Integrative Health Facility in the country for tertiary care. As per the agreement, both AIIA and VMMC & SJ Hospital will jointly work to treat patients using the best of both Ayurveda and Modern Medicine. The MoU between AIIA and Safdarjung Hospital was signed on March 25 at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, by Dr. Tanuja Nesari and Dr. S.V. Arya. The event was graced by Dr. Sunil Kumar, DGHS, whose efforts have been instrumental in making this collaboration a reality. The unit will be inaugurated by Minister of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal and State Minister of Ayush Munjapara Mahendrabhai in the presence of Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary Ayush, and Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary Health & Family Welfare. The focus areas for collaboration include the rapeutic, holistic, preventive, and promotive medical services through Integrative medicine unit; lifestyle counselling, yoga, diet advice and stress management, IEC activities for creating awareness about the Integrated medicine unit for the general public, activities to paramedical staff, nurses, UGs, PGs, and faculty and projects to be taken up to include other areas such as applied research as mutually agreed upon involving faculty, research scholars and students from different departments/ divisions of both the institutes. On the occasion, Dr. (Prof.) Tanuja Nesari, Director, AIIA said: "We are proud and delighted by this milestone where we have an opportunity to collaborate with one of India's leading hospitals to deliver Ayurveda science in an integrated model with modern medicine. This comes at a time when on WORLD HEALTH DAY, the global focus is on OUR HEALTH, OUR PLANET. The Indian Heritage and use of natural treatment formulas combined with the modern medicine can become the future of patient care in India. This step is aligned with the government's mission of HEALTH FOR ALL. The facility will help strengthen the medical infrastructure and research, as well as increase affordability and accessibility of treatments. Within a short span of time, we will be able to establish the integrated facility in sync with the best medical practices from around the globe. This is also going to add enormous prospects for our future students aspiring to make their name in the field of medicine." Under the agreement, the infrastructural space and other requisites to run the centre on a day-to-day basis will be provided by VMMC & SJ Hospital, whereas the technical support including manpower, technical infrastructure, and running of the centre will be managed by AIIA. The expert faculty and staff of both the signees will form a joint committee of Integrated medicine to run and establish the model centre. The faculty and students of AIIA and VMMC & SJ Hospital will have access to the facilities of both institutes, subject to their respective rules and regulations with prior permissions as granted by authorities. Read More► 'Charak Shapath' in NMC's New Competency-Based UG Medical Education

In line with the Centre's initiative to support startups, the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in association with Startup India has launched 'Ayush Start-up challenge' to encourage early-stage startups and individuals working on innovations in the Ayurveda sector and alternative healing. The winners of ‘Ayush Start-up Challenge' will receive both a cash prize and incubation support from AIIA. The Ayush market currently stands at a whopping $10 billion and is projected to see an impressive 50 per cent increase over the course of the next five years. The sector offers massive potential for exponential growth at a time when there is growing global interest in the field of 'alternative' medical practices. The Ministry of AYUSH has taken numerous steps to promote the research and understanding of these practices that are indigenous to India and her history. All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) is actively working towards creating an environment that fosters research and development and building of practices, technology, and solutions to accelerate the adoption of AYUSH practices. The ‘Ayush Start-up Challenge' is an important initiative towards realising this vision. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. (Dr.) Tanuja Manoj Nesari, Director, AIIA said: "We are building AIIA as an institution of eminence under the guidance of Ministry of Ayush with three key wings of medical science under one roof academics, scientific research and clinical practice. To fully realize the potential of the Ayush science we need a thriving ecosystem with players operating across the entire value chain. This is where start-ups can play an important role in developing new solutions. The present initiative aims to not just identify promising start-ups and reward them, but also provide them incubation support through guidance and skill development which will go a long way in helping these start-ups realize their next phase of growth." The ‘Ayush Start-up Challenge' is open for participation from both early-stage start-ups as well as individuals as a group. group of 3-5 individuals can come together to participate in the programme, however, if selected they would need to register a legal entity before the cash prize is disbursed to them. There are 3 entry categories for participating start-ups - Ayush Food Innovations, Ayush Bio-instrumentation (Hardware solutions) and Ayush IT Solutions (Software solutions). There will be two winners in each of the 3 categories with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for the winner and Rs 50,000/- for the runner-up. Therefore overall, there would be 6 winners. In addition, winners will receive incubation support from AIIA. The incubation support would entitle winners to tap into the vast knowledge and resource pool of AIIA across the three wings of the institute namely research, academics, and Hospital. Details of the 3 participating categories are as follows: Food Innovations in Ayush Sector Ready to Eat Nutritious Ayurveda Ahara (Food): In this era of the pandemic the population at large is striving to consume more nutritious food, with less time to be spent in preparing it. The ready-to-eat foods are in demand at a wider scale and those which require minimum preparation or clean-up for the user. Innovation in this segment of food delivery helps in enabling consumers to enjoy a healthy lifestyle while keeping to their busy work schedules. Ayush Bio-instrumentation (Hardware Solutions) and Innovations in healthcare: These innovations should enable breakthrough performance in terms of better outcomes, convenience, access at lower cost, reduced complexity and time required for the patient and the healthcare provider. These innovations can be in the area of 3-D printed devices for Ayurveda Medical Technology products, Convenient care/Urgent care at lower cost to patients, Telehealth, Panchakarma Instrumentation, Innovation in instruments used for pharmaceutical processing of Ayurveda drugs at lab scale, drug ATMs, Innovation in instrumentation for analysis and quality control of Ayurvedic drugs etc. Ayush IT Solutions in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions in Ayurveda Diagnostics, Virtual reality, Biosensors & Trackers: Innovations in Information technologies (i.e. ITs) have the capacity, more than any other medium, to facilitate various stakeholders of Ayush Sector achieve better outcomes. Innovations can be in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions in Ayurveda Diagnostics, Virtual reality, Bio-sensors & Trackers, Convenient care/Urgent care at lower cost to patients, Leveraging data to physician experience (During diagnosis and treatment and taking patient feedback), Databases, methods for identifying various phases of pharmaceutical processing, web based networking for raw drug consumption in pharmaceutical industry with linkages etc. The last date of application submission is March 4. Read More► Sarbananda Sonowal lays foundation stones of 4th section of Dhanwantri Bhawan at Delhi

New York: Ebola virus, which can persist in certain areas of the body, can re-emerge to cause fatal disease, even long after treatment with monoclonal antibodies, according to a study. The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, was conducted using a nonhuman primate model of Ebola virus infection. The research team from US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases found that about 20 per cent of monkeys that survived lethal Ebola virus exposure after treatment with monoclonal antibody therapeutics still had persistent Ebola virus infection specifically in the brain ventricular system, in which cerebrospinal fluid is produced, circulated, and contained even when Ebola virus was cleared from all other organs. "Ours is the first study to reveal the hiding place of brain Ebola virus persistence and the pathology causing subsequent fatal recrudescent Ebola virus-related disease in the nonhuman primate model," explained Xiankun (Kevin) Zeng, from the institute. In particular, two monkeys that initially recovered from Ebola virus-related disease after treatment with antibody therapeutics had recurrence of severe clinical signs of Ebola virus infection and succumbed to the disease, Zeng said. Severe inflammation and massive Ebola virus infection were present in the brain ventricular system; no obvious pathology and viral infection were found in other organs. Previous research using nonhuman primate survivors as a model has showed that the virus, despite being cleared from all other organs, can hide and persist in specific regions of immune-privileged organs, such as the vitreous chamber of eyes, the seminiferous tubules of testes, and the ventricular system of the brain reported in this study. "The persistent Ebola virus may reactivate and cause disease relapse in survivors, potentially causing a new outbreak," said Jun Liu, from USAMRIID. Recurrence of Ebola virus disease has previously been reported in human survivors, according to the researchers. For example, a British nurse experienced Ebola virus relapse in the brain, suffering from meningoencephalitis nine months after recovering from severe Ebola virus disease. She had received therapeutic antibodies during the 2013-2016 outbreak in Western Africa, the largest such outbreak to date. In addition, a vaccinated patient who had been treated with monoclonal antibody therapeutics for Ebola virus disease six months earlier relapsed and died at the end of the 2018-2020 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately, that case also led to many subsequent human-to-human transmissions Ebola virus causes one of the deadliest infectious diseases known to humankind. It is still a major threat in Africa, and there were three outbreaks in Africa in 2021 alone, according to the World Health Organization. Two vaccines and two monoclonal antibody therapeutics have been approved to prevent and treat Ebola virus disease in recent years. "However, our study reinforces the need for long-term follow-up of Ebola virus disease survivors even including survivors treated by therapeutic antibodies in order to prevent recrudescence. This will serve to reduce the risk of disease re-emergence, while also helping to prevent further stigmatization of patients," Zeng said. (agency) Read More► Obesity Ups Kidney Disease Risk: Study

The Ministry of AYUSH announced a slew of major initiatives to push healthcare facilities in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A total amount of ₹553.36 crore has been released by the Government of India to Uttar Pradesh for various activities under the National AYUSH Mission. These major announcements were made by Union Minister of AYUSH and Ports, Shipping & Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal today in the presence of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. In an effort towards building a sustainable, effective and affordable healthcare in the country, eight new 50 bedded integrated AYUSH hospitals were inaugurated. These are located in Deoria, Koushambi, Sonbhadra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, and Lalitpur. These were built with a total capital outlay of ₹72 crores. A total of 500 new AYUSH Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) were also inaugurated in different parts of the state.   Building upon this strong foundation of healthcare for people, the Union Minister laid foundation stone for a new AYUSH Educational Institute for Ayurveda with a capital outlay ₹49.83 Crores. This new institute of Ayurveda will come up in Ayodhya. Further, foundation stones were also laid for six new 50 bedded hospitals which will come up in Unnao, Shrawasti, Hardoi, Gorakhpur, Sambhal and Mirzapur. The total outlay for this project is planned at ₹78 crores. A total of 250 new AYUSH dispensaries will also be constructed in different districts of the state. Speaking about the role of AYUSH in building a robust healthcare delivery system in the state, Shri Sonowal said, that construction of these 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospitals, the public will get proper benefits of various AYUSH systems of medicine for their overall health. He further said that AYUSH Health & Wellness Center has been mainly constructed at the primary level, with the objective of taking care of the overall health of the people based on AYUSH principles and practices, so that people can lead a healthy life. On this occasion, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath said, that steps taken by the AYUSH Ministry will tremendously help common people. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National AYUSH Mission being implemented by the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India since 2014, aims at providing cost effective AYUSH services with a universal reach through up-gradation of AYUSH hospitals and dispensaries. Apart from this, strengthening the institutional capacity at the state level by upgrading AYUSH educational institutions and setting up of 50/30/10 bedded integrated AYUSH hospital is also one of the main objectives of this mission. The Union Cabinet has also approved the operationalization of 12,500 AYUSH Health & Wellness Centers (AYUSH Health & Wellness Centers) component under Ayushman Bharat for implementation through National AYUSH Mission for the period up to 2023-24. The objective of this component is to provide the services of a holistic health model based on AYUSH principles and practices to reduce the burden of disease and empower the public for "self-care". Now, through the implementation of the National AYUSH Mission in the second phase which will continue till 2025-26, it is also proposed to launch a targeted AYUSH public health program involving States and Union Territories. Read More ► AYUSH Minister announces key initiatives to upgrade infrastructure and increase access to AYUSH services in Uttarakhand