AYUSH LAUNCHED A RESEARCH PORTAL

AYUSH LAUNCHED A RESEARCH PORTAL

The Department of AYUSH has launched a research portal with the aim of dissemination of Research findings. It covers the AYUSH systems viz. Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Yoga & Naturopathy and Homeopathy researchers and also allied faculties. It helps to show case the research findings in an organized fashion and pre-empt duplication of work to encourage interdisciplinary research and generate evidence for wider acceptance of these systems worldwide. Portal provides information under the headings 1. Standard Treatment Guidelines 2. Preventive promotive health 3. Preclinical and Clinical Studies 4. Literary and Fundamental Research 5. Drug standardization 6. Local health traditions 7. Drug monographs 8. Formulary of India and other formularies 9. References from Classical text books and 10. Plant monographs. The information provided is categorized as per individual AYUSH medical systems against standard set of Medical conditions, based on WHO disease classification ICD-10, and navigation is provided according to ICPC’s (International Classification of Primary Care) in 17 disease categories. The Portal provides the relevant indigenous name of the medical conditions pertaining to each medical system, which further adds to clarity. The users can browse from a dashboard which provides access to all the categories with visually clear buttons meant for the purpose. On selection of the displayed results, the user will get information in the form of an abstract, and where ever possible, full text of the article. An important value addition of the portal is categorization of Clinical Research work into Grade A,B,C based on “General Guidelines for methodologies on Research and Evaluation or Traditional medicine published by World Health Organization (WHO). The grading allows the researchers and also policy makers to assess the current R&D status of AYUSH and plan further to fill in the gaps. The portal content development is a three tier exercise involving rigorous collaborative content uploading and editing process to ensure high quality content. The application has been developed by Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS), and the content is being provided by all AYUSH Research councils, Drug standardization laboratories, and National Institutes. AYUSH Research Portal can be accessed through :http://ayush.ap.nic.in In the wake of stiff competition at home as well as worldwide for a legitimate recognition for AYUSH systems, the portal will serve as platform to further the cause of Strengthening these systems.