The ground-breaking ceremony for the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Director-General of WHO Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus.
New Delhi: Union Minister of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal Friday visited the site in Jamnagar, Gujarat, where the ground-breaking ceremony of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine will be organised on April 19. This comes two weeks after the Ministry of Ayush signed the host Country Agreement with WHO for establishing the centre in India.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Director-General of WHO Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus.
The Union Minister and Secretary of the Ayush Ministry Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha travelled to the site of the ceremony and took stock of the preparations. After the site visit, the minister held a review meeting with the district officials and addressed the press about the Global Centre of Traditional Medicine, discussed the key highlights of the partnership between the Ayush Ministry and the WHO and emphasised the ever-increasing importance of traditional medicine in a post-Covid world.
Commenting on the ceremony, Sonawal, said, “The primary objective of the GCTM is to integrate the benefits of traditional medicine from across the world with modern science and technology. This initiative will help develop affordable and reliable health services for India as well as the global community and we only have Prime Minister Modi to thank for this. Bringing together modern science, innovation and traditional medicine will pave the way for building a sustainable healthcare system. We look forward to the upcoming event in Jamnagar to celebrate the collaborative and strategic efforts by the WHO and the Government of India.”
A statement released by the ministry said, “While Jamnagar will serve as the hub, the new centre is being designed to engage and benefit all regions of the world. GCTM shall focus on four main strategic areas: evidence and learning; data and analytics; sustainability and equity; and innovation and technology to optimise the contribution of traditional medicine to the global health. It will focus on building solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medicine practices and products and help countries integrate it as appropriate into their health systems and regulate its quality and safety for optimal and sustainable impact.”
