Ayurveda remedies to go online

Dec 14, 2007, 2:26 GMT

Jaipur, Dec 14 (IANS) Ayurveda remedies now at the click of a mouse! This is what the National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) here promises for those who want to follow the age-old herbal system of Indian medicine for any ailment.

The NIA will begin its online consultancy services within a month and later also offer telemedicine, said institute director Mahesh Chandra Sharma.

'With our online consultancy service, people will be able to report their illness on NIA's website. Operators will forward all queries to the expert concerned and submit back his or her advice. Ayurveda consultants anywhere in the world can also seek advice on treatment of a particular illness,' Sharma told IANS.

NIA, run by the union ministry of health and family welfare and coming under the department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), is known for its many pioneering researches in ayurveda.

'The world has accepted ayurveda as an authentic form of medicine and one of the oldest medical sciences. Nowadays, ayurveda has even got a status symbol. So there is a growing demand across the world for accurate information and consultancy on ayurvedic therapies,' he said.

'Apart from online consultancy service, we are setting up web-server based centres at three divisional levels - at Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur - in the state. Practitioners of ayurveda in hospitals in these places can regularly be in touch with experts of NIA for consultancy on treatment of patients,' he added.

'A panel of ayurveda experts is being constituted to provide advice on diseases like obesity, diabetes, depression and knee and abdominal pain. NIA will also provide information on different therapies like 'panchkarma', and blood purifying through ayurvedic treatment,' he said.

NIA has a hospital facility in this Rajasthan capital, research centres as well as an educational institute that offers courses in all branches of ayurveda.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service