The Kerala State Pollution Control Board’s (KSPCB) decision to exempt small scale Ayush hospitals from its consent purview is expected to give a fillip to the ailing Ayurveda healthcare institutions conducting panchakarma therapies and pre-karma procedures in the state.

The Board has exempted Ayurveda hospitals with bed strength of less than 15 or equal to that number from obtaining their consent, but only an in-principle clearance from the Board is needed. The effluent generation of the institution should be less than 10 KL per day, the office of the chairman of KSPCB informed Pharmabiz.

The state anti-pollution watch dog has taken this decision on the request of the Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) which had approached the Board with a request to exempt ayush hospitals from their consent purview. However, big hospitals like Kottakkal Aryavaidya Sala, Sitaram Ayruveda Pharmacy, Oushadharatnam etc have to comply with the existing laws.

The Board however instructs the hospitals that they have to obtain in-principle clearance form its office for operating. They should be registered with the local authorities. Septic tank and soak pit facility should be provided in the hospital for the disposal of effluents and all the solid wastes should be disposed of in scientific manner.

AMAI informed the environmental regulators that the Ayush hospitals had no medical laboratories or surgical treatment units to generate effluents in abundant quantities. The oil usage while doing panchakarma and poorva karma therapies creates only a limited quantity of effluents which is wiped out with clothes and no waste water comes out, said Dr Rejith Anand, secretary of the Ayurveda Medical Association.

He added that the decision of the Board would be a great relief to more than 800 small scale Ayush hospitals in Kerala. Obtaining licence from the PCB entails a huge amount of money which is often putting the hospitals into trouble.

The Ayurveda hospitals are officially termed as ‘orange zone industries’ which come under the category of moderately polluting. The pollution control board has divided the industrial units into three categories depending on their pollution level; they are red, orange and green. Drugs and pharmaceuticals come under orange category which releases some amounts of effluents, for which treatment plants are mandatory.