Lok Sabha Question No. 299 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-17
Subject: AYUSH Medicines for Geriatric Population
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: T.R.V.S. Ramesh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYUSH

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.299 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 TH  DECEMBER, 2021

## AYUSH MEDICINES FOR GERIATRIC POPULATION

## *299. SHRI T.R.V.S. RAMESH:

Will the Minister of AYUSH be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  ministry  has  taken  any  steps  to  improve  health  of  the  country's  geriatric population following the pandemic, particularly in Tamil Nadu;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  the  number of people of 60 years and above age across the  country to whom AYUSH prophylactic medicines have been distributed till date under ''Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'' campaign, State-wise including districtwise in Tamil Nadu?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF AYUSH

## (SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

- (a) to (c)   A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.299* FOR 17 TH  DECEMBER, 2021

(a)  &  (b)  Yes,  Sir.  The  Ministry  has  taken  various  steps  to  improve  the  health  of  the country's geriatric population following the pandemic, including Tamil Nadu.

Prophylactic medicines for prevention of COVID-19 from Ayush systems including Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy were distributed free of cost to general public including geriatric population. Initiatives/Actions taken by Ministry of Ayush for management of COVID-19 pandemic are at Annexure-I.

(c) State/UT-wise number of people including 60 years and above age across the country to whom AYUSH prophylactic medicines have been distributed till 13 th December 2021 under ''Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'' campaign by Ministry of Ayush is attached as Annexure-II. District-wise details of Tamil Nadu is attached at Annexure-III.

## Annexure-I

## Initiatives/Actions taken by Ministry of Ayush for management of COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Ministry of Ayush issued an advisory on how to protect yourself from COVID and how to stay healthy. In  the  advisory,  in  addition  to  maintaining  hygiene  like  hand  wash,  use  of  mask  etc.  simple  home remedies were also suggested for people.
2. A  letter  to  all  Chief  Secretaries  of  States  /  Union  territories  was  sent  from  the  Ministry  with  more specific  suggestions  on  augmentation  of  General  Immunity  of  people  and  about  possible  AYUSH intervention wherever required in coordination with Health departments of the States / UTs.
3. A letter  was  sent  to  Ministry  of  Health  &  Family  welfare  offering  for  integrating  and  utilizing  huge AYUSH infrastructure to combat with the COVID19 pandemic.
4. Ministry  has  sent  a  D.O.  letter  to  Principals  of  all  Ayurveda,  Siddha,  Unani  and  Homoeopathy (ASU&H) colleges  (approximately 727 colleges) for utilization of available infrastructure facilities like Hospital  (IPD  &  OPD),  pathology  laboratory,  ICU  and  manpower  including  medical  &  Paramedical Staff to combat with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, they were requested to offer their services to local  health  authorities  for  utilization  of  the  available  facilities  by  them  as  per  the  situation  arises. Accordingly, the various AYUSH institutes hospital were utilized by State Governments and designated as quarantine centre, isolation centre, Covid care centre and Covid health centre.
5. Ministry  of  Ayush  recommends  self-care  guidelines  for  preventive  health  measures  and  boosting immunity.
6.  General Measures
7.  Ayurvedic Immunity Promoting Measures
8.  Simple Ayurvedic Procedures
9.  During dry cough/sore throat
6. The Ministry of Ayush launched a three-month campaign on 'Ayush for Immunity', through webinar and  also  publishing  campaign  bulletin  on  AYUSH  for  Immunity.  More  than  50  thousand  people participated in the Webinar.
7. Ministry of Ayush and MoHFW have jointly provided training to 33,000 AYUSH master trainers. Total 66045  AYUSH  Personnel  had  obtained  training  at  igot.in  platform  on  continual  basis.  Ministry  of Ayush has coordinated with MoHFW for utilisation of AYUSH manpower as COVID warrior for the management of COVID-19 with identified roles.
8. Guidelines for Registered Practitioners of respective system of AYUSH have been prepared by Director Generals of Research Councils and Directors of National Institutes with their team of experts and same is vetted by the Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force of Ministry of Ayush. These guidelines are made available in public domain for the benefit of registered AYUSH practitioners including Homoeopathy to help in the management of COVID-19 pandemic uniformly.
9. Government of India has also released 'National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for management of COVID-19'.
10. Ministry  of  Ayush  has  also  released  Ayurveda,  Unani  and  Siddha  preventive  measures  for  selfcare during COVID-19 and Guidelines for Ayush Practitioners for COVID-19 Patients in Home Isolation.
11. During the second wave of this pandemic, the scientists of reputed research institutions of the country have found that   AYUSH-64, a poly herbal formulation developed by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush is useful in the treatment of asymptomatic, mild and moderate COVID-19 infection as an adjunct to standard care. The Ministry of Ayush-Council of Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  (CSIR)  collaboration  has  recently  completed  a  robust  multi-centre clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AYUSH-64 in the management of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. Further, KabasurKudineer , a siddha preparation was also subjected to clinical trials for  studying  the  efficacy  in  COVID-19  patients  by  Central  Council  for  Research  in  Siddha  (CCRS) under  Ministry  of  Ayush  and  is  also  found  useful  in  the  treatment  of  mild  to  moderate  COVID-19 infection.
12. States/ UTs  licensing  authorities  /  Drug  Controllers  has  been  informed  to  allow  the  licensed manufactures  for  AYUSH-64  under  their  jurisdiction  to  include  new  indication  of  AYUSH-64  for repurposing as an intervention for the management of asymptomatic, mild to moderate COVID-19 in addition  to  existing  indication  (s).  Further,  States/  UTs  Licensing  Authorities  have  been  requested  to expedite the process of the licensing/ approval of application for the manufacturing of AYUSH-64.
13. Ministry  of  Ayush  vide  D.O  letter  No.S-16030/13/3030-NAM  has  also  requested  the  States/UTs Governments to popularise the use of Kabasura kudineer and AYUSH-64 in the asymptomatic, mild to moderate COVID-19 patients at islolation centres/  Covid  Care  Centre  /  Covid  Health  Centre,  Ayush hospitals/ dispensary and patients in home isolation.
14. In  order  to  provide  maximum  benefit  of  Ayush  systems  of  medicine,  a  Nation-wide  campaign  for distribution of AYUSH-64 and Kabasura Kudineer through 86 clinical units of Research Councils and National Institute under Ministry of Ayush across the country.
15. Ministry of Ayush has also issued advisory for Ayush practitioners on ethical practices during COVID19 pandemic.
16. Ministry of Ayush vide its D.O. letter No. Y-18020/2/2020 -EP-III has requested all States/UTs to issue appropriate  instructions  to  District  Authorities  urgently  to  involve  District  Ayurveda  Officers  in  the management and  mitigation  of  COVID-19  in  the  districts  and  utilize  the  services  of  Ayush  doctors, Ayush  healthcare  providers  and  Ayush  health  care  facilities  extensively  so  that  the  shortage  of manpower and infrastructure for the management of COVID-19 can be duly addressed.
17. For continuing with the efforts to augment human resources for the management of COVID-19 cases, the  Ministry  of  Ayush  has  issued  advisory  to  deploy  the  trained  AYUSH  human  resources  available with them for clinical management of COVID-19 cases. The decision to deploy AYUSH professionals to  the  frontlines  of  the  COVID-19  war  is  in  continuation  of  decisions  taken  to  boost  availability  of medical personnel to fight COVID-19 such as postponement of the NEET-PG Exam, giving priority to medical  personnel  completing  100  days  of  COVID  duties  in  forthcoming  regular  Government recruitments and deployment of medical interns in COVID Management duties under the supervision of their faculty.
18. Ministry  of  Ayush  has  released  Home  care  guidelines  for  children  and  Advisory  for  AYUSH Practitioners about prophylactic care in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
19. Ministry of Ayush has released information for Ayurveda Practitioners for Prophylactic, Symptomatic Management of suspected and diagnosed cases of Mucormycosis.
20. Ministry of Ayush has released "Ayush Recommendations for the public on holistic health and wellbeing Preventive measures and care during COVID-19 and LONG COVID-19"

Annexure-II

State/UT  wise  number  of  people  including  60  years  and  above  age  across  the  country  to  whom AYUSH  prophylactic  medicines  have  been  distributed  till  13 th December  2021  under  ''Azadi  Ka Amrit Mahotsav'' campaign by Ministry of Ayush.

| State               |   Number of beneficiaries |
|---------------------|---------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh      |                     57657 |
| Andaman and Nicobar |                      1672 |
| Arunachal Pradesh   |                      2953 |
| Assam               |                     23110 |
| Bihar               |                     43269 |
| Delhi               |                    141538 |
| Sikkim              |                      5981 |
| Gujarat             |                     39092 |
| Himachal Pradesh    |                     10399 |
| Jammu               |                     13763 |
| Jharkhand           |                      5237 |
| Karnataka           |                     14660 |
| Kerala              |                     82509 |
| Madhya Pradesh      |                     30776 |
| Maharashtra         |                     76019 |
| Manipur             |                     10420 |
| Meghalaya           |                       958 |
| Mizoram             |                      1339 |
| Nagaland            |                      7774 |
| Orissa              |                     45279 |
| Punjab              |                      6212 |
| Puducherry          |                     11300 |
| Rajasthan           |                     52998 |
| Tamil Nadu          |                     99615 |
| Telangana           |                     19275 |
| Tripura             |                     17797 |
| Uttar Pradesh       |                     65582 |
| Uttarakhand         |                      1769 |
| West Bengal         |                     43305 |
| Ladakh              |                        43 |
| Grand Total         |                    932301 |

## Annexure-III

District-wise  details  of  prophylactic  medicines  from  Ayurveda,  Siddha,  Unani  and  Homoeopathy systems distributed to the people of Tamil Nadu including geriatric population by Ministry of Ayush and State Government of Tamil Nadu till 13 th Dec, 2021.

| Sl. No.   | Name of the District   |   No. of Beneficiaries of Above 60Years Age |
|-----------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Coimbatore             |                                      168141 |
| 2         | Tiruppur               |                                      195070 |
| 3         | Cuddalore              |                                      320273 |
| 4         | Dharmapuri             |                                      321348 |
| 5         | Krishnagiri            |                                      338380 |
| 6         | Dindigul               |                                      184135 |
| 7         | Erode                  |                                     1778945 |
| 8         | Kancheepuram           |                                       43924 |
| 9         | Thiruvallur            |                                       78420 |
| 10        | Chengalpet             |                                       55508 |
| 11        | Kanniyakumari          |                                      181152 |
| 12        | Madurai                |                                     1555888 |
| 13        | Theni                  |                                      457845 |
| 14        | Nagapattinam           |                                     1407737 |
| 15        | Tiruvarur              |                                     1488884 |
| 16        | Pudukottai             |                                      302131 |
| 17        | Ramnad                 |                                      252259 |
| 18        | Salem                  |                                      108588 |
| 19        | Namakkal               |                                      118832 |
| 20        | Sivagangai             |                                     1111677 |
| 21        | Thanjavur              |                                      212573 |
| 22        | Nilgiris               |                                      374195 |
| 23        | Tirunelveli            |                                      320670 |
| 24        | Thiruvannamalai        |                                      440541 |
| 25        | Thoothukudi            |                                      180707 |
| 26        | Trichy                 |                                      420109 |
| 27        | Karur                  |                                      496815 |
| 28        | Perambalur             |                                      204153 |
| 29        | Ariyalur               |                                      247376 |
| 30        | Vellore                |                                      203601 |
| 31        | Villupuram             |                                      289207 |
| 32        | Virudhu Nagar          |                                       99045 |
| 33        | Chennai                |                                      109349 |
| 34        | Kallakurichi           |                                         172 |
|           | Total                  |                                    14067650 |