The Kerala Government has announced a series of measures to boost the Ayurvedic sector in the state, including setting up of Ayurvedic standardization units in Ayurveda colleges and documenting of traditional Ayurvedic knowledge to prevent piracy by overseas firms in the wake of the Jeevani issue.

Informing the state assembly yesterday, the Kerala State health minister Kadavoor Sivadasan said the government has plans to start Ayurvedic drug standardization units in Ayurvedic colleges in the state. This move is to help the Ayurvedic manufacturers leverage the facility and ensure the quality of their drugs.

It may be noted that the state now has about a dozen odd Ayurvedic colleges, including four in the government sector, and the rest in the self-financing sector. The drug standardization unit at the Thiruvananthapuram Ayurveda College was recently modernized with Rs 75 lakh-assistance from the department of AYUSH.

The minister said efforts are on to make the Thiruvananthapuram Ayurveda Medical College as a Model National Institute in Ayurveda. The Central Government has sanctioned Rs 1.75 crore so far for upgrading the facilities at the college. It is planned to develop the college as a major R& D institute in Ayurveda, and the State Government will also invest to set up requisite infrastructure.

Further, the Panchakarma hospital at Poojappura in Thiruvananthapuram will be developed as an institute with advanced infrastructure. The Thrissur Ayurveda hospital will be modernized with inpatient facilities for 50 people. The government will start Ayurveda Homeo dispensaries in each of the 14 districts in the state. This project will have a central assistance of Rs 31 lakhs. Another idea of the government is to start Ayurveda Kudeeram health clinics with Panchakarma and basic treatment facilities at important tourist centers in the state, announced the minister.

He said the government has accorded priority to ensure development of medicinal plant cultivation and preservation of endangered medicinal herbs. The minister said the government has started measures to protect the traditional knowledge on Ayurveda to prevent piracy of Ayurvedic knowledge by overseas firms. The government will take the initiative to document knowledge on rare medicinal plants and medicines from the 2000 odd rare manuscripts on Ayurveda, informed the minister.

The government will assist the ventures in the field of large-scale medicinal plant cultivation and treatment to develop the enterprise as 'Ayurvedic Villages'. Further, the government will acquire 386 acre from the forest department to set up medicinal plant gardens.