India starts looking at ways to apply modern scientific techniques to ancient medicine with a memorandum of understanding between Pondicherry University and Central Council for Research.
Pondicherry University is to sign a memorandum of understanding between its department of biotechnology and the Central Council for Research in Siddha early this year, The Hindu has reported.
The memorandum of understanding is hoped to increase collaboration on multi-disciplinary and translational research.
This collaboration has been spurred by the “36th Annual Conference of Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists on Translational Sciences: Bridging Ancient and Modern Biomedicine” that proposed it as one of its outcomes.
The memorandum of understanding will enable modern scientific processes to be applied to ancient medicine.
S Rao, advisor to the Department of Biotechnology for the Government of India, pointed to how scientific techniques such as mass spectrometry, DNA finger printing and chromatographic profiling are being used by the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) to establish the purity of herbal drugs.
Rao said: “Serious efforts by all stakeholders are urgently needed for commissioning large scale, integrated and translational research and development of the two systems of medicine [modern and ancient] for ensuring access and affordability of medical treatment to [the] poorest of poor patients.”
