The Union government has approved establishment of the All India Institute of Ayurveda in New Delhi as an autonomous organization under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush). Efforts are on to scout for a director with supporting staff to oversee the project implementation. The facility will come up on 15 acres of land and at an investment of Rs 150 crore.

The Institute will facilitate scientific validation, quality control, standardization and safety evaluation of Ayurveda products. It also aims to have standardised Ayurveda-based tertiary health delivery, promotion of interdisciplinary research and education of Ayurveda at postgraduate and postdoctoral levels.

The Institute will be on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to carry out research in the field of the traditional system of medicine, according to Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Minster for Health and Family Welfare.

It would be initially set up as an autonomous registered body of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the objective of raising it to the status of deemed university within a decade. The facility is scheduled to be completed within the 11th Plan period. The hospital will be commissioned by 2011. Research and development initiatives and academic programmes would take off after that.

The facility will allow to conduct referral activity in the field of herbal medicine. It will offer post-graduate and doctoral courses. The 200-bed research and referral hospital would facilitate clinical research.

The key focus of the Institute is to develop quality standards and safety data on Ayurvedic drugs. It will generate standard treatment protocols and remedies for the management of national and global health problems for which conventional medicine do not offer satisfactory solutions.

The Institute will collaborate with institutions engaged in education and research in diverse systems of traditional medicines in countries including Japan and South Korea. It will also interact with institutes in developed countries.

The main reason for setting up the Institute is to capitalize on the Ayurveda market which is expected to emerge as a $5 trillion industry by 2050, stated the health minister.

According to the industry sources, the Institute will provide the much-needed relief for trained manpower and the research in Ayurveda to help bolster the growth of the sector.

"The setting up the Institute will be a major initiative for the Ayurveda sector. The modern institute will provide evidence based support for the efficacy claims with herbal drugs. Now the challenge is to get the right manpower to man the Institute," stated Dr DBA Narayana, Head, Herbals research, Hindustan Unilever Research.