Annoyed over the inordinate delay in commencing operations for the Central Council of Research in Siddha (CCRS) in Chennai, as was decided by the central government last year, the Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR), a Chennai-based NGO that is dedicated to the promotion of siddha medicines, has sought the intervention of the law makers to expedite the process of setting up the headquarters of the CCRS in Chennai.

CTMR, which has been providing training to the upcoming traditional healers for the last 20 years and facilitating them for advanced researches, has sought the help of local Rajya Sabha Member, T K Rangarajan requesting him to apprise the union health minister about the dilly-dallying by the concerned authorities on the issue. Dr S Usman Ali, the director of CTMR, has given a memorandum to the Parliament member detailing the issues faced by the siddha physicians in Tamil Nadu and the necessity of starting operation of the CCRS in the state capital at the earliest.

The Ayush Department of the Union Health Ministry had decided to set up the headquarters of the CCRS in Chennai as soon as it bifurcated the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS) in March 2010, The CCRAS, functioning under Ayush department with headquarters in New Delhi, was established in 1978.

Earlier, when this reporter contacted the Ayush department, a senior officer had said the headquarters would be opened in Chennai and the Council would act as a research institute for siddha medicines. Another point he made was that the proposed CCRS would function as an educational institution mainly for PG and PhD courses. About the Delhi centre, the officer had said that it would further act as a centre for ayurvedic research.

According to CTMR sources, the separate Council for siddha has been duly registered as a society and a senior civil service officer made as Officer on Special Duty. But his office is working in New Delhi still now without any competent advisors with proven merit in various disciplines pertaining to research in siddha to help him activate the new council.

The Ayush department had some concrete plans when it took the decision to bifurcate the CCRAS. One important plan was that, the existing clinical research units in Siddha at Chennai, Pondicherry, Palayamkottai, Thiruvananthapuram and the Survey of Medicinal Plants Unit & Siddha Medicinal Plants garden at Mettur should be brought under the Council. It had also decided that an officer in the rank of joint secretary in the Ayush Department would head the institute as its Director General. But no such plan of the Ayush department was implemented so far.

Later while speaking to Pharmabiz, Rangarajan said he will bring this issue to the notice of the union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad.