The Himalaya Drug Company is all set to ramp up the scope and reach of its Ayurveda Medical College (AMC) campaign. The AMC campaign, which covers 200 Ayurveda colleges across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, aims to enhance the quality of Ayurveda education that is disseminated at these institutions.

The focus of the campaign is to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Students will now be made to relate traditional knowledge to modern science and ensure they contribute towards developing herbal medicinal science for the future.

As part of this campaign, Himalaya has instituted the Jivaka and Ayurvishrada awards to recognize and reward academic excellence in over 80 Ayurveda colleges across India. The awards are granted to the first and second rank holders in each of these colleges.

Already in its fifth year, the AMC campaign has now been expanded in scope to cover Continuous Medical Education (CME), social awareness camps and BMD (Bone Mineral Density) testing camps. The CME sessions will introduce students to research at Himalaya and methods adopted to validate the classical Ayurveda.

The AMC campaign is gaining popularity across India particularly because of the increasing awareness for contemporary scientific Ayurveda, of which Himalaya is a pioneer.

In recent times a debate is emerging on the contemporarization of Ayurveda with sceptics questioning the application of modern science to Ayurveda. The main question being raised is whether or not Ayurveda as a science lends itself to contemporarization, stated Dr Rangesh, head-new product initiatives & regulatory affairs, The Himalaya Drug Company.

An authoritative text of Ayurveda, Charaka Samhita, is progressive and far ahead of its times in defining the concept of health and health management. "The Charaka Samhita states that science of Ayurveda does not operate in a vacuum but within the context of society and as it evolves so does the science progress. Ayurveda is not rooted in a particular time but rooted in a set of principles that propagate holistic living and healing through natural products", added Dr Rangesh, who is also a practicing Ayurveda physician.

However, some people are of the opinion that Ayurveda needs to strictly conform to textbook prescriptions. This is an inaccurate interpretation of Ayurveda and in fact negates the very essence of the science. "Students of Ayurveda cannot practice this science in an insulated environment. In order to take Ayurveda to the world and allow millions of people to benefit from it, it needs to be 'contemporarized'. People who are not able to grasp the true meaning of Ayurveda and how it fits into today's society are in fact limiting its reach and potential and thus depriving a lot of people who can benefit from it," he added.

"Himalaya has taken contemporary scientific Ayurveda to 65 countries . The company has developed Ayurveda into an evidence-based science, backed by clinical studies conducted in leading national and international hospitals. This has made Ayurveda relevant in and accessible to modern times. "We want the future generation of Ayurvedic students to contribute towards furthering research within Ayurveda and making the science an integral part of mainstream medicinal practice," said Dr. Rangesh.

Going forward the campaign will deepen engagement with health universities and Ayurvedic students. The programmes will emphasise the need to build scientific rigor into Ayurvedic practice in order to make it relevant to modern society.