Union Minister of Ayush and Ports Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, with the Chief Minister of Mizoram, Zoramthanga, laid the foundation stones for six Ayush hospitals during his two-day official visit to the northeastern state.
The three 50-bedded hospitals will be developed at Aizawl, Champai and Hnahthial. The three 10-bedded hospitals will be developed at Khawzawl, Saitul and Hortoki in the state.
The Union Minister, while highlighting the importance of traditional Indian medicine spoke about the role the folk medicine of the Northeast can play in palliative, preventive, curative patient care along with modern healthcare.
Sarbananda Sonowal said the holistic approach to patient care and a healthy lifestyle includes both preventive and curative aspects. He said that to learn and leverage folk medicine, the AYUSH ministry is conducting a multi-centric research project to critically appraise and validate Local Health Traditions (LHT), Oral Health Traditions (OHT) and Ethno Medicinal Practices (EMP) among ethnic communities of the Northeast.
The union minister said that the Centre is making efforts to have better coordination with Mizoram to develop inland waterways transports in the state. Mizoram’s ongoing inland waterway projects would be expedited and become operational soon, he added while highlighting the importance Mizoram plays in developing a robust inland waterway system in Northeast India.
During the meeting, he was appraised about the hydrographical survey and techno-economic feasibility study conducted on river Tlawng at Khamrang village in Mizoram to connect Gharmura in Assam. A Detailed Project Report of the proposed 87.136 km inland waterways has already been submitted to the Centre, he informed.