The State government has chalked out ambitious plans to promote Yoga and Naturopathy in a big way. An exclusive directorate for Ayush will be set up at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and a Yoga and Naturopathy council will also be set up.

Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas, during his address at the valedictory of the International Conference on Yoga, Naturopathy and Arogya Expo here on Sunday, said steps had been taken to set up an international working group under the Ayush directorate. A rehabilitation centre for HIV children will be set up near Belgaum where the patients will be treated through Yoga and Naturopathy.

“In order to bring authenticity to the Indian System of Medicine, the government is deliberating on setting up a research and training centre under the Ayush directorate. October 2 will be declared as Yoga and Naturopathy Day,” he said.

Several national and international institutes have come forward to promote Ayurveda, Yoga, Siddha, Unani and Homoepathy (Ayush). They also announced their decision to adopt 10 gram panchayats in the hilly and forest regions of the State. 

Ramdas said the government has released Rs 10 crore for the Yoga and Naturopathy therapies in DB Guppe gram panchayat in Mysore which is slated for inauguration on March 03.

The first international Ayush conference has received a good response from the foreign delegates. A former US Army personnel Col Richard Petri, director of Integrative medicine and pain management, Washington, evinced his interest in including Yoga and Naturopathy for the US Army. 

Swami Amrit Suryananda Maharaja, the president of Portugal Yoga Federation, said India should aggressively promote Yoga and Naturopathy across the world. 

The Arogya expo had over 210 stalls displaying products of Ayurveda, naturopathy, pharmaceutical firms and health equipment brands. With the Arogya Congress held in December 2010, crowd at the Arogya expo were aware about the Ayush products this year.  “The sale of Ayush products has increased by 400 per cent.  We have done more than Rs 2.5 lakh of business in just four days,” said Dr Mruthyunjaya from Shathayu Ayurvedic Centre.

Over 1,000 persons underwent free medical checkup and nearly 5,000 delegates, including 500 international delegates from 25 countries, participated.  As many as 300 research papers were presented at the conference.  The Arogya Expo will conclude on February 13.