Calling India’s traditional medicine system a “holistic science of life”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in poll-bound Gujarat’s Jamnagar.
Addressing the gathering in presence of WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus and his Mauritius counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, PM Modi said the WHO Global Centre will open “the door of age of traditional medicine in the world”.
Noting that India’s proposal of giving importance to millet has been accepted by the United Nations (UN), he announced that the year 2023 will be celebrated as “International Millet Year”. Demand for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani formulations have risen globally, noted PM Modi.
“India is taking this centre as a big responsibility for service to all of humanity. This centre will help in providing better medical solutions to the world with the support of traditional medicines,” said PM Modi.
“It’s not just an institution’s inauguration, it is the beginning of the traditional medicine era in the world for the next 25 years, at the peak of India’s ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. When India will celebrate ‘Azadi Ki Shatabdi’ (century), this centre will be of huge importance,” he added.
PM Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat, also thanked WHO DG Dr Tedros and said he made the country feel ‘Triveni’ by speaking in Gujarati, Hindi, and English. He also expressed his gratitude for his Mauritius counterpart PK Jugnauth and thanked him for accepting his invitation to visit Gujarat.
“I’ve known Dr Tedros for a long time and every time we have met, he has mentioned his learnings from his Indian teachers with such prestige, expressed his sentiments with such cheer, that his affection for India is visible in the form of an Institute today,” said PM Modi.
“He tells me that he is giving me his child and now I have the responsibility of the same and nurture it (WHO-Global Centre for Traditional Medicine). I assure Dr Tedros that we will stand by your expectations and hopes,” he added.
Talking about the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, it will be the first and only global outpost centre for traditional medicine across the world. It will emerge as an international hub of global wellness, said the Centre.
It will also focus on four main strategic areas – evidence and learning; data and analytics; sustainability and equity; and innovation and technology to optimize the contribution of traditional medicine to global health, it added.
