Karnataka plans to get an Ayurveda University

Karnataka will be the first state in South India to launch an Ayurveda University, if chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda has his way.

Speaking to DNA on the sidelines of the inauguration of Dussehra festivities atop Chamundi Hills, the chief minister said, “The government land for the said university is available in Shimoga district and I being the in-charge minister of the district, will take steps to initiate formation of the university. The first meeting in this direction will be held on October 2 in Shimoga. I have invited a few people from the Ayurveda academia. We will form a three-member committee to take forward the proposal.”

Medical education minister SA Ramdas said, “It is the prerogative of the chief minister as he is the district-in-charge minister of Shimoga, where former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa had allotted the required land. I have given my recommendations to the chief minister.”

Principal of JSS Ayurveda College in Mysore, Dr K Lakshmish Upadhyaya said, “There are 57 Ayurveda colleges in Karnataka, which is second only to Maharashtra. All the three universities of Ayurveda are in North India—Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat. The institute in Gujarat began when that state had seven Ayurveda colleges.”

“At present, all Ayurveda colleges function under the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, in which, other health system lobbies get an upper hand, but Ayurveda academics cannot develop in such an environment. Ramdas, also a follower of Ayurveda system of medicine, regularly visits the JSS Ayurveda hospital.