Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has entered into a collaboration with the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), the Danish-funded non-governmental organisation (NGO) to conduct research on the traditional practices and herbal medicine used for malaria, diarrhoea and bone setting. The research will involve postgraduate students of ayurveda from RGUHS who will be exposed to FRLHT's methodologies in drug development in the tropical diseases and fracture. No other details were disclosed.

"The collaboration will also allow RGUHS to promote the science of herbal health practises in all its health science subjects. Efforts are also on to develop a compilation of information on folk health practises and Indian System of Medicines for orientation of medical students of all health sciences. The information from FRLHT will be an additional subject from the existing curricula and will be for students of all medical disciplines with a view to make them acquainted with the traditional system of medicines so that they could understand and treat their patients with a holistically," stated YJ Visweswara Reddy, registrar, (Evaluation) at RGUHS. The data will be circulated to all the affiliated colleges of RGUHS, so that students can make use of it, he added.

To understand the traditional practises in healing better, RGUHS is also working on the development of a database on herbal medicinal plants for the Bachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) students. The data will be in the form of a compact disc and will have information on 300 medicinal plants from different regions of the country mentioned in the texts of ayurveda. The compact disc will be available by June 15. The RGHUS under its banner has 242 under graduate educational centres and 68 post graduates colleges in Karnataka offering degrees and post graduate studies in medical dental, nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, ayurveda, homeopathy, unani, and paramedical disciplines, Dr. R Chandrashekar, vice chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences stated.

In order to give a fillip to Indian System of Medicine, RGUHS plans to develop a consortium of herbal gardens in the state for the benefit of ayurveda students. The Government of Karnataka has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 51 ayurveda educational institutions including three government colleges in the state to help the department of Dravyaguna (plant medicine) to manage the cultivation of herbal plants to be used by students for research. The programme initiated by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM).

The BAMS students do not get enough practical knowledge owing to lack of herbal gardens for their use. The state has 639 ayurvedic dispensaries, 101 ayurvedic hospitals and 55 ayurvedic colleges. The consortium of herbal gardens in different parts of the state for students would encourage the use of herbal plant medicine, stated Dr. Chandrashekar.