Fifth World Ayurveda Congress and Arogya Expo in Bhopal
“AYURVEDA is the basic foundation of our medicine system. It is our traditional heritage and it will always be there. We can cure the disease from the roots with the help of this miraculous medicine system and can achieve complete health. Ayurveda has earned trust of the whole world. Therefore, both the government and the people have the responsibility to popularise it,” said former Union Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, while inaugurating the 5th World Ayurveda Congress in Bhopal on December 8.
National president of Vijnana Bharati Dr Vijay Bhatkar presided over the inaugural ceremony. Other prominent dignitaries who shared the dais included Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Industry Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, AYUSH Minister Mahendra Hardia and founder president of Vigyan Bharati Prof K I Vasu. The Congress and Arogya Expo were held at Lal Parade Ground of Bhopal from December 7 to 10. The four-day Expo was inaugurated by Shri Mahendra Hardia.
One of the main highlights of the Expo was Central Government’s AYUSH pavilion sprawling over an area of 10,000 square feet. Many private Ayurvedic and homeopathic pharmaceutical companies, research and development organisations also participated in the Expo. They also exhibited unique ways of healing the diseases with the use of gems, insects and worms, herbal plants, spices, medicinal drugs, flowers, minerals, seed, roots, etc.
Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the state government was trying hard to give special importance to Ayurveda. Therefore, an additional AYUSH Ministry has been established under the Health Ministry. Some distinct Ayurveda Hospitals in each district are also being established. He said the state government has also decided to connect Ayurveda with allopathy in other hospitals. He informed that for any company which wants to sell herbal medicines, the state government would provide all facilities. On this occasion, the Chief Minister also administered Dhanvantri oath to all the participants.
Padmashree Dr Vijay Bhatkar said Ayurveda is not just a supplement but a mainstream medical practice. It is the inclusion of all medical sciences. It is a global medical practice which is based on Shastras. Over time, traditional Ayurvedic knowledge is incorporated into the new discipline. It has made Ayurvedic system of medicine more effective. It is a commendable initiative on the Ayurveda front for being able to celebrate this event of Ayurveda or Indian science. On this occasion, Dr Antonio Morandi from Italy, Dr Marco Hin from Australia, Dr George from Argentina and Dr Olivo Warner from Switzerland were also present.
Along with the event, an International Delegate Assembly was also inaugurated. Around 150 delegates from every nook and corner of the world attended the Assembly and discussed Ayurveda education, syllabus construction with international coordination. The session was chaired by Dr Anil Kumar and the panel consisted of Dr Antonio, Dr George, Dr Geetha Krishnan and Prof Amar Singh. The gist of the session was to bring uniformity in the Ayurveda education beginning with a common syllabus. During the day, two important plenary sessions on Ayurveda and Science and enriching public health through Ayurveda were also held.
An Ayurvedic Medical Camp was inaugurated by Padmashree Dr Devendra Triguna. The camp provided treatment and consultation to pre-registered 1,500 patients. Also free drug distribution was organised. In the medical camp 18 physicians from Maharashtra Vyaspeeth treated patients of cancer, obesity, kidney stones, skin diseases, respiratory diseases, hemorrhoids and female diseases. This camp was organised by Dr BS Rathore and Dr Swarna Prane.
The Congress also hosted six scientific plenary sessions, 30 scientific parallel sessions and a continuous scientific poster session. Thirty experts contributed in the plenary sessions including scientists from Europe, USA and Australia. Around 80 experts also from USA, Europe, Latin America and Sri Lanka led the parallel sessions. A total of 150 oral presentations by young research scholars from Ayurveda was the highlight of the parallel scientific sessions. More than 250 posters were displayed during the congress which was rigorously evaluated to identify the five best posters. Several important international universities like the University of California, Los Angeles, University of San Francisco, University of Minnesota, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology were represented in the Scientific Sessions. In one of the plenaries, the key plenary lecture was delivered electronically through Skype.
For the first time, a blinded peer review process was implemented through an online abstract submission module to select the best abstracts for presentation during the congress. All abstracts were blinded using online software modules and were subjected to seven rounds of internal and external review giving an opportunity for the scholars to revise and resubmit their abstracts. More than 80 experts from all over the world reviewed and scored the abstracts checking originality, scientific importance, report of methodology, presentations and the like. Based on these scores, 210 oral abstracts and 393 poster abstracts were accepted for the oral and poster sessions as well as for e-publication.
The valedictory function was addressed by RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Suresh Soni and Chief Minister Shri Shivaraj Singh Chauhan. Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan assured that whatever conclusions derived from the congress, he would try to apply them in the State.
Shri Suresh Soni said now Ayurveda should be taken out of the experimental laboratories and brought to the life of common people and in their houses. He told that the Kerala Government is investing 11 per cent of its budget on Ayurveda. Other than this, Dr Vijay Bhatar said, “Madhya Pradesh will prove to be a milestone for India in the field of Ayurveda.” He also wanted that the knowledge which Kerala and the academics all over the Ayurveda sector have, should reach to the students of MP also. He mentioned that it is a ripe time to fine tune the focus of Public Health to Ayurveda with traditional solutions that are time tested and beneficial over the millennia.
Awards were also presented to the best Expo stalls and the best posters at the closing ceremony of the conference. The winners for the expo stalls were Solumiks Herbaceuticals Ltd. and Devia’s Herbal. The winners of the poster expo were Shri Aam Prakash Dwivedi, Shri SR Summi, Smt Pushpa Bhande, Shri Kundan Chaudhry and Shri Sachinanand Vanakpati. Other than this a consolation prize was given to Vindhya Herbals for its Pavilion depicting it as a vast herbal foray which involves communities.
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