All you need to know about India’s first Ayurveda Institute

Shripad Naik, India's new minister in charge of the department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH), greets the media as he arrives to take charge of his office in New Delhi November 11, 2014. India has formed the new ministry to promote alternative therapies such as yoga and ayurveda, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a mission to raise global appeal and awareness of home-grown health treatment. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS HEALTH) - GM1EABB1KNI01

On October 17, which will be observed as Ayurveda Day here on, India will get its first Ayurveda Institute that will offer postgraduate and doctoral courses in various disciplines of Ayurveda.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in the national capital.

On the eve of this momentous event, Moneycontrol takes a look at what the institute offers -

The institute will focus on fundamental research of Ayurveda, drug development, standardization, quality control, safety evaluation and scientific validation of Ayurvedic medicine.

AIIA has a 200-bed referral hospital for facilitating clinical research. Once fully established, the Institute will have 25 Specialty Departments and 12 clinics with 8 inter-disciplinary research laboratories wherein several Scholars will have access to PG & Ph.D programs every year.

Modelled along the lines of AIIMS, the institute aims at bringing a synergy between traditional wisdom of Ayurveda and modern tools and technology.

The institute, which is set up on a total area of 10.01 acres on a budget of Rs 157 crore, is the first medical institute under the Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) ministry to hold the coveted National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) accreditation.

In a first, AIIA will provide state-of-the art Ayurvedic treatment facilities where visiting diplomats, delegates and other interested foreign visitors, along with common public, will be taken for a glimpse or first-hand experience of classical Ayurveda therapies, education and scientific research.

The institute will also attract foreign patients for Ayurvedic treatment chronic health problems that other medical systems have not found solutions for. This in turn will help boost medical tourism in India.

The AIIA's hospital block currently provides out patient services and medicines are being given free of cost.

Currently, the clinical specialties running in the hospital block are Neurological & Degenerative Disease Care Unit, Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Care Unit, Diabetes & Metabolic/Allergic Disorders Care Unit, Yoga, Panchakarma Clinic, Kriya Kalpa, Diabetic Retinopathy Clinic, Kshara Evum Anushastra Karma and Infertility Clinic.

The institute also boasts of pathology, biochemistry, microbiology and Radiology laboratories/Diagonosis facilities.