In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 33 C of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, the Union ministry of Ayush, has reconstituted the Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha Drugs Technical Advisory Board (AUSDTAB) with director general of health services as chairman.

Advisor or joint advisor dealing with drugs in the Ayush ministry is the secretary of the Board.

Government has published the notification with regard to the re-constitution in the gazette dated April 13, this year. With this, the earlier Board, constituted in July 2011, has ceased to exist.

The Board comprises total twenty members, out of which four are from Tamil Nadu, the hub of Siddha system.

The Secretary of Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR) in Chennai, Dr T Thirunarayana has been selected to the members’ panel representing practice side. Dr G Veluchami, representing Ayush Pharmacopoeia Committee, Dr N Kabilan, associate professor at Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University and Dr L Sivakumar, SKM Siddha and Ayurveda Company, Erodu are the other three members got selected to the panel from Tamil Nadu.

The present president of the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) is also from Tamil Nadu.

Whereas the ministry of Ayush has not included a member from Kerala, the nucleus of the origin of Ayurveda, to represent the academic community or practice or industry side of Ayurveda into the committee. The ministry’s decision has infuriated the Ayurveda community in Kerala which is considered as the hub of this traditional system.

Dr D Ramanathan, secretary of the Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI) and former executive committee member of the CCIM has strongly condemned the decision of the Ayush ministry for not including a member from Kerala. He wanted the ministry of Ayush to reconsider the decision and include a member from Kerala to represent the industry side. Most of the ayurvedic products, marketed in all the states and abroad, are from Kerala, and the manufacturing companies in the state support the raw drugs marketing agencies and medicinal plant cultivators in other states by purchasing raw materials, he said.

Dr. Rejith Anand, general secretary of Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) said government should consider one representative from Kerala as special invitee to the Board. He asked how could the government constitute the committee without nominating a member form Kerala, the ayurvedic centre of the country.

The ex-officio members of AUSDTAB include the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and the Director of the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kolkata.

There are 16 nominated members representing industry, academia and pharmacopoeia committee. They are government analysts at the Ayush drugs testing laboratory in Bangalore, Dr Neeraj Tandon, head, Medicinal Plants Division, ICMR, New Delhi, Dr Pulok. K Mukherjee, director, School of Natural Products Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Prof Vinod Kumar Joshi, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Dr Chandrakant Katiyar, Emami Ltd, Kolkata, Prof Rais-Ur.Rahman, New Delhi, Dr Rabinarayan Acharya, Institute of Pharmacy Teaching and Research, Jamnagar, Gujarat, Prof Jalis Ahmad, ZVM Unani Medical College, Pune, Sanjay Srivastava, Mahirshi Ayurveda Pvt Ltd, Noida, Mohsin Dehlvi, Dehlvi Naturals, New Delhi,  Dr G S Badesha, director of Ayush, Chattisgarh and Dr Mohammad Aktar Siddiqui, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi.

According to sources, the first sitting of the new Board will take place within 40 days of the notification, which was on April 13, 2015.

The ministry of Ayush has asked the newly selected members to put up their suggestions in the first meeting to deliberate on how to develop the traditional medical systems in the country.