The Pune-based Maharashtra Ayurveda Centre (MAC), an Ayush ministry funded industry cluster, is planning to revive the ancient science of veterinary medicine by producing authentic ayurvedic, herbal and organic products for animals based on veterinary ayurveda principles. The organic, herbal products and medicines which will be manufactured at FDA approved GMP units in India will not only help in treatment but also preventing the occurrence of diseases.

Ayurvedic medicines are recommended for pets in many health conditions like indigestion, renal diseases, skin conditions, wound healing, giardiasis, cystitis, ophthalmic conditions and many more. It is also beneficial for the general health and fitness of the pets as preventive therapy. The herbal treatments have no side-effects or adverse reactions in recommended dosages.

Says Dr Sunita Belgamwar, chairperson, MAC, "There are many innovative ayurvedic products, for which no equivalent synthetic product is available, particularly for improving productivity of livestock and poultry. For an organic livestock production that is growing rapidly throughout the world, it is necessary to use feed additives and healthcare products of natural origin only, but they are often not easily available. Indian herbs and herbal products have been evaluated and approved by EU authorised agency QC&I in Germany for use in organic farming in the EU."

QC&I which stands for Quality, Certification and Inspection is an accredited, privately owned independent inspection body in Germany for organic agricultural production and processing systems according to Regulation (EC) 834/2007. QC&I was one of the first approved private inspection bodies for organic farming in the European Union. For more than 20 years the body has been active in all parts of the world.

The monetary benefits to the farmers and national economy by using ayurvedic veterinary medicines and supplements over synthetic products for treatment of animals and improving their health are estimated to be more than Rs.5,000 crore annually. Besides this, there are many other hard to monetise advantages such as savings in foreign exchange with reduction in imports of basic chemicals and earning of foreign exchange from exports.

Indian herbs has earned foreign exchange worth more than Rs.700 million (€10.78 million) during last six years only from the export of its herbal veterinary products to 37 countries. As such the concepts also work as a great image builder for India.

She further added that the potential of Indian herbs can also be gauged by the fact that an Indian was invited recently for a presentation on veterinary Ayurveda and related innovations at the Ist international conference for organic animal farming. This was hosted at University of Minnesota, USA by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).

The classical texts of ayurveda like charaka, sushruta and harita samhita contain references of pashu ayurveda. The greatest and most revered teacher of veterinary science was Salihotra, the father of veterinary science followed by Palkapya and Atreye. Almost all aspects of surgery and medicine including veterinary ethics were dealt-in ancient medical veterinary treatises.

Ayurveda, the oldest existing healthcare system about veterinary ayurveda (pashu ayurveda), has many references in the Indian epic Mahabharata battle where thousands of wounded and diseased animals got treated with herbal medicines using Ayurveda principles. The epic has references that Prince Nakula and Prince Sahadeva were physicians of horses and cows respectively.