Integration of AYUSH in national health systems
Co-location of AYUSH services, integrated hospital departments, and stronger drug regulation are the main policy tools used to mainstream traditional medicine within the National Health Mission.
- The National Health Mission is being used as the main platform for co-locating AYUSH services in public health facilities.
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare supports AYUSH doctors, paramedics, and training under the National Health Mission.
- The Ministry of Ayush supports AYUSH infrastructure, equipment, furniture, and medicines under the National Ayush Mission.
- The Ministry of Ayush has created a three-tier pharmacovigilance structure and launched an online surveillance portal to monitor AYUSH drugs and misleading advertisements.
The Ministry of Ayush has linked AYUSH integration to the National Health Mission (NHM) as a way to widen access to public health services and give patients a choice of medical systems within government facilities. The policy direction is not limited to service delivery; it also covers education, research, drug regulation, and institutional coordination.
What the Ministry of Ayush says is being done
The Ministry of Ayush says AYUSH services are being co-located at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), and District Hospitals (DHs). The stated model is a single-window service delivery mechanism in which a patient can choose among systems of medicine at the same facility.
UPSC can frame AYUSH integration around the design of integrated health delivery under the National Health Mission, the role of institutions such as the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine and the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy, and the trade-off between wider access to AYUSH and stronger evidence, quality, and safety standards.
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