The “National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for the management of Covid-19”, a mile stone in the rapidly evolving scenario of Covid- 19 responses in the country, was released jointly by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences and Shripad Yesso Naik, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of AYUSH and Minister of State for Defence, on today at New Delhi.Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog also grace the virtual event.
As the pandemic wreaks havoc across the globe and mankind scrambles to put together effective counters to it, attempts are being made in many countries to integrate traditional interventions along with standard of care. In India, experience from Covid-19 response activities as reported from different parts of the country have shown that Ayurveda and Yoga can play a pivotal role to augment the standard preventive measures for Covid-19. (The standard preventive measures are those provided in the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare). Taking note of this potential of Ayurveda and Yoga, expert committees from the concerned National Institutes and Central Councils for Research Centres along with a few other noted research institutions have collaborated and developed a protocol for the management of Covid-19.
Dr. V. K. Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary (Health & Family Welfare) and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary (AYUSH) also spoke at the launch- event.
The significance of the National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for the management of Covid-19 is that it ends the ambiguity around deploying Ayurveda and Yoga- based solutions for the clinical management of Covid- 19. The subsequent versions of the Protocol will cover other disciplines of Ayush as well. The present protocol provides clear guidance to Ayush practitioners of the said two disciplines on how to approach treatment of Covid 19 in patients in different conditions of Covid. This brings in uniformity and consistency in the Ayush-based responses to the pandemic across the country. It also helps state governments to plan and incorporate these solutions into the Covid 19 responses activities that they would be deploying on ground.
The protocol is expected to contribute to the mainstreaming of Ayush solutions for the management of Covid-19, and will be immensely beneficial to the public since these solutions are easily accessible and will help to alleviate the hardships brought in by the pandemic.
