As part of its efforts to create a talent pool to take the Indian System of Medicine (ISM) forward, the Department of Ayush has identified the Bangalore based Institute of Ayurveda Integrative Medicine (I-AIM), the multidisciplinary research, education and outreach arm of the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) to offer a brand new flagship course.
The two year full time course would entail the students to obtain a Post Graduate degree followed by a Post doctoral certification. The degree awarded would be known as Fellow of the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrated Medicine (FIAM).
Students armed with the degree would form the talent pool titled as ‘Ambassadors’ in Ayush Clinical Practice. These candidates will be much sought after going by the government of India’s efforts to promote the science of Indian System of Medicine, Dr GG Gangadharan, joint director, FRLHT told Pharmabiz.
The programme, a first of its kind in the country, will give a fillip to the development of the Indian System of Traditional Medicine, which covers Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Siddha, Yoga and Unani.
The course curriculum is being finalized and will cover all segments from clinical research to production. “There is a shortage of experts with leadership capability in the Indian System of Medicine and we need to create a new breed of experts to take this system of medicine forward not only in India but across the world”, he added.
I-AIM is the only institute in the county to be recognized for this initiative by the government of India. The course will start in November and will include the clinical and non clinical aspects of Ayurveda.
The Institute has also kicked off its Good clinical management training programme wherein 20 students underwent a rigorous session of learning to have a grip on good clinical management practices. All these candidates have been absorbed by the Institute and its parent body ie FRLHT. The course which spans for 45 days is based on a gurukula style of training. The concept is similar to a finishing school that polishes skills to supplement the formal college education.
The biggest advantage of this course is that the finishing schools drastically reduces the deployable time for an Ayurveda industry which is facing an acute shortfall of trained staff. Since the trend in the industry is to source industry-ready candidates, this is where such courses are proving to be indispensable to the freshers, stated Dr. Gangadharan.