BENGALURU: Karnataka Government is planning to set up South India’s
first AYUSH University at Sogane Village near Shivamogga (formerly Shimoga).

The State Legislative Council adopted a Bill to pave the way for setting
up the university, which would give a huge fillip to the propagation of AYUSH
as a major stream of medical practice.

State Medical Education Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar said the AYUSH University
would place emphasis on Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy
and Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine). This, he said, will be the first university
in South India focused on traditional medical systems.

The Minister said there was every justification for setting up a
separate university to govern AYUSH teaching centres in the State as the Rajiv
Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), which governs medical education
in the State is overburdened.

Dr. Sudhakar said the RGUHS had under it 953 colleges, including 105 AYUSH
colleges. As a result, the RGUHS was unable to give special focus attention to
AYUSH medicinal practitioners and its research and development.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Congress had adopted the Beijing
Declaration to preserve, protect and broaden the practise of traditional
medicines and to promote research. The proposed university at Shivamogga has
been planned as a follow-up on the declaration.

The Government, he said, has decided to deploy at least one AYUSH doctor
in all Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the State along with two practioners of
allopathy.