The out patient department of the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), the proposed autonomous institute under the aegis of the Department of Ayush, in New Delhi, is expected to begin next month as part of the central health ministry's efforts to set an institution to develop highest standards of patient care and research in Ayurveda which could also work as a model collaborative centre, it is learnt.

The department has already recruited an expert as Director of the institute to spearhead the operations and is waiting for the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) nod to commence civil works, according to a senior official with the ministry. The contract for the civil works has also been issued and the procedure to recruit adequate staff is in progress, which will be completed in a gradual manner in two years' time, said the source.

The AIIA is expected to set up benchmarks of Postgraduate and Post-Doctoral Education (MD and PhD) in Ayurveda and to promote Ayurveda at national and international level. Further, it is designed as a referral institution which could be developed as a centre of excellence creating standards for education and research at highest level so that other institutes can opt it as a model.

The functions of the institution also includes undertaking interdisciplinary research focusing on validation of fundamental principles of Ayurveda using modern tools and technology, standardization and quality control of Ayurveda drugs and drug development and to work as a state-of-art tertiary care hospital with facilities for clinical research.

The department has appointed Dr Manoranjan Sahu, professor with the Shalya Tantra Department, Faculty of Ayurveda of Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, in May, 2010. The procedure to select a suitable logo through public competition is also under the way, to provide the education institute with national importance a better identification.

When the proposal to set up the institute came up for discussion in a working group set up by the planning commission in 2006 on Ayush, has recommended the institute to be established in the 11th Five Year Plan itself. The DDA has allotted 10.50 acres of land near Apollo Hospital at Sarita Vihar, New Delhi, well in advance for establishment of the institute.