Strategic Policy Unit: One among the steps initiated by the Ministry of AYUSH to make the Ayush sector future-ready

Ministry of AYUSH and M/s Invest India will form a collaboration to set up a strategic policy unit called “Strategic Policy & Facilitation Bureau (SPFB)” to facilitate planned and systematic growth of the Ayush Sector. This is among the various steps which the Ministry has initiated to chart future directions along which the stake-holding groups of the Ayush Sector can move.

Setting up of the SPFB is a forward-looking step which will make the Ayush systems future-ready.  This Bureau will support the Ministry in strategic and policy making initiatives that shall help pave the way to reach the full potential of the Sector and stimulate growth and investment. At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is leaving indelible imprints in the health-seeking behaviours of people around the world, such a strategy unit can be of immense support to the stake-holding groups of the Ayush Sector.

As a partner in the project, M/S Invest India would collaborate extensively with the Ministry to frame the work plan of the Bureau and define its short-and long-term targets.  Invest India would deploy highly trained and expert resources to implement and execute the plans of the Ministry of AYUSH.

The activities to be undertaken by the SPFB would include :

1. Knowledge Creation and Management,
2. Strategic & Policy-Making Support,
3. State Policy Bench marking: Undertaking State Policy bench marking to formulate uniform guidelines/regulations regarding AYUSH sector in India,
4. Investment Facilitation: Follow up and facilitation of investment cases and MoUs, and coordination among different Department, organisations and States.
5. Issue Resolution: Invest India would work with companies and other institutions on issue resolution across States and among various sub-sectors.

Some of the Specific Deliverables of Bureau would include project monitoring for Inter-Ministerial Groups, Skill Development Initiatives, setting up Strategic Intelligence Research Unit and initiating an Innovation Program.

The Ministry of AYUSH would assist the Bureau in responding to investment proposal, issue and queries and fund Invest India for undertaking activities assigned.  The Ministry will also support the Bureau in building links with various stakeholders such as industry associations, affiliate bodies of Ministry and Industry representation.

The SPFB is the latest in a series of steps – like setting up the comprehensive IT backbone called Ayush Grid for the entire Sector, streamlining of Ayush Education on modern lines, evolving global standards for Ayush systems for diagnostics and terminologies in the ICD framework and setting up a vertical for Ayush Drugs Control – initiated by the Ministry to enable the Ayush systems to move into the centre-stage of healthcare activities in the 21^st century, many of which have already progressed into the implementation phase.

Carving out an independent Ministry for the seven Ayush systems in 2014 has put these Indian Medicine Systems on a trajectory of accelerated growth.  The six years that followed have seen the potential of these being tapped on an unprecedented scale to address some of the long-standing challenges of public health in India.  The picture that emerges from various studies and reports on the Ayush Sector in this period indicates that the affordable and easily accessible solutions of Ayush systems are a boon to large sections of the society in their pursuit of maintaining satisfactory levels of health.

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