NEW DELHI, Feb 14 – With South East Asian countries forging an agreement to promote traditional medicines, India has proposed to set up a regional centre for traditional medicines in the country.
The proposal was made by Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad at the two-day International Conference on Traditional Medicine for South-East Asian Countries that concluded here on Wednesday, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
At the conference, health Ministers of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lankan and Timor-Leste along with representatives from North Korea, Indonesia, Myanmar, Maldives and Thailand adopted the Delhi Declaration to promote traditional medicines across the world.
The Declaration proposes to establish regional centres for capacity building and networking in the areas of traditional medicine and medicinal plants.
Four panel groups on strategic themes introduced a set of recommendations which were adopted by all member nations at the conference. Speaking after the conference, Azad said: “The spirit behind the Delhi Declaration is to foster development of traditional medicine across the region.
“We should share with each other our expertise, best practices and extend support and cooperation in areas of mutual interest. India will remain committed to act on the Declaration in letter and spirit.”
To institutionalise mechanisms for information sharing and capacity building in traditional medicine, Azad said the Delhi Declaration has indicated the need to examine the setting up of regional centres.
“We will be able to nurture the Centre and develop it as a Centre of Excellence in the days to come,” he said.
BERNAMA
