The Environment and Development Initiatives for Thiruvananthapuram (EDIT), a Thiruvananthapuram-based high profile NGO which conceptualized a project for setting up an International Institute of Ayurvedic Medical Sciences (IIAMS) has submitted its project proposal to the Kerala Government.

The Rs 150-crore project, prepared by the Directorate of Ayurvedic Medical Education of the Kerala Government and EDIT, was handed over to the Kerala health minister K. K. Ramachandran by Varkala Radharakrishnan, Member of Parliament, at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram, last week, said sources.

It may be noted that Pharmabiz had reported the EDIT project, envisaged in the lines of AIIMS, is to be a public-private sector initiative, with the role of government mainly acting as a facilitator. It plans to conduct advanced research in Ayurveda by tying up with various leading healthcare institutions in different parts of the world, besides setting up a drug development arm and a 500-bedded multi-specialty treatment center of global standards.

The Rs 10 to Rs 15-crore invested treatment centre, planned as a Center of Excellence, will offer multi-specialty treatment in the eight disciplines related to Ayurveda, in panchakarma, surgery, ophthalmology, ENT, dentistry, maternal and child care, social and preventive medicine, pharmacy and drug research. It will also have a cent per cent Export Oriented manufacturing unit of Ayurvedic prescription drugs and nutraceuticals contributing at least Rs 5 crore revenues since the initial year of inception. The R&D facilities at the IIAMS would conform to global standards for phyto-toxicological studies, clinical validation and standardization of drugs.

The centre also plans a databank on clinical studies, apart from a digital library network for various research institutions worldwide. It will have strategic tie-ups for data sharing, faculty exchange and technological know-how with various leading research agencies for drug development and standardization.

The institute will also have facilities for research at the highest level in doctoral and postdoctoral level in Ayurveda and a full- fledged Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Centre, envisaged to provide comprehensive information and guidance on IPR for treatment practices, raw material and biodiversity, and drugs development.