Two day International Conference on Unani Medicine was recently organised by the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) as a part of Unani Day recently in New Delhi.

It was inaugurated by Dr Jitender Singh, Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO and D/o Atomic Energy and Space.

While inaugurating the event he said, ‘Lifestyle diseases are one of the major health challenges of the country, an area where integration of traditional and conventional medicine systems can play an important role.’

Dr. Singh emphasized all-round development of indigenous systems of medicine with special focus on holistic management of diseases.

He opined that all the physicians irrespective of system of medicine whether modern or traditional may be co-located for addressing the requirement of patients in holistic manner.

Talking about Hakim Ajmal Khan, whose 150th Birth Anniversary on 11th February is being celebrated as Unani Day; he said that contribution made by him to the traditional medicine and to the nation was remarkable.  

On this occasion, a MoU was signed between CCRUM and Hamdard University, Bangladesh to establish an “academic chair” in Unani System of medicine in Bangladesh.

Hamdard University was represented by Dr. Abdul Mannan, Vice Chancellor. The aim of this MoU is to provide academic leadership to the institution, primarily through demonstrating and fostering excellence in teaching, research, and policy development related to Unani system of medicine at the varieties of levels within the discipline.

In two day conference various national level eminent personalities and stakeholders from academia, industry, regulators, and researchers in the field of Unani Medicine are participating in deliberations. Besides national delegates, representatives from countries like South Africa, UK, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, USA, Portugal, UAE, Slovenia, Israel, Hungary, Bahrain, Tajikistan, etc were also present at the conference.

Speaking on the occasion, Pramod Kumar Pathak, Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH said that this international conference which is themed on Integration of Unani Medicine in Mainstream Healthcare is in line with the objectives of the ministry towards mainstreaming of AYUSH in national healthcare.

Roshan Jaggi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH in his address highlighted the efforts being made by the Ministry of AYUSH to promote rational medicine in national public health system through regulation of research and appropriate integration of quality products, practices, and practitioners into the health system so as to achieve universal health for all.

Addressing the conference, Hakim Syed Khalifatullah, former Vice President, Governing Body, CCRUM demanded that A&U Tibbia College should be upgraded as a national university of Unani Medicine. He emphasized that there should be a strong coordination between Medical Council of India and Central Council of Indian Medicine to come up with an integrative solution to address health challenges of the country.

Prof. Rais-ur-Rahman, Advisor (Unani), Ministry of AYUSH said that National Health Policy 2017 has been designed to ensure access to AYUSH remedies through co-location in public health facilities. Further, he said that the policy recognizes the need to standardize and validate Unani medicines and establish a robust and effective quality control mechanism for ASU & H drugs.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr. Anil Khurana, Director General, CCRUM briefed about the background behind organizing International Conference on the occasion of Unani Day. Keeping in view, the need for integration of various systems of health, it is essential to discuss and develop a strategy in this regard.