Innovative IT interventions essential to popularise AYUSH: national workshop
Kerala Health Minister opens 2-day event for digital framework of AYUSH treatment
Kottayam / September 18, 2025
Kottayam, Sep 18: Calling for innovative IT interventions to increase the popularity of AYUSH across the country, a national workshop today strongly advocated for interstate cooperation to bridge the digital gap for easy accessibility to Ayurveda and other indigenous treatment systems.
Kerala Health Minister Smt Veena George, who inaugurated the ‘National Workshop on IT Solutions in the AYUSH Sector’, said the two-day event aimed at ushering in a digital framework to give a new direction to India’s ancient health systems.
Noting that Kerala has been at the forefront of Ayurvedic medicine for long, she said the state developed a comprehensive wellness system rooted in ancient Indian texts dating back to more than 3,500 years. “This holistic approach continues to be firmly embedded in Kerala's healthcare delivery and management, serving as a living testament to the enduring wisdom of our traditional practices,” she added.
Bridging the digital divide is important to ensure that its benefits reached all sections of society, the Minister told delegates at the workshop being organized by the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) Kerala in association with the State’s AYUSH Department and the Union Ministry of AYUSH. “The implementation of centralized IT solutions will bring about revolutionary changes in the AYUSH sector,” she added. “Kerala has come a long way in digitisation.”
The September 18-19 event at KTDC Watarscapes has delegates from all states and union territories of the country.
Noting that nationwide data sharing was “essential” for the benefits of digitisation to reach the larger public, the Minister expressed the hope of earliest and effective implementation of centralized digital solutions in the country.
Union AYUSH Secretary Shri Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha pointed out that digital health platforms and AI tools were “crucial” in the modern era, regardless of the treatment methods.
“The Union AYUSH Ministry is planning to introduce a centralized website system that can be used by all States. This will improve national-level knowledge-sharing. Several State AYUSH missions have implemented their own IT solutions,” he pointed out, appearing online. “However, moving to a centralized system will add to the effectiveness of such knowledge-sharing on a national basis.”
The brand-new ‘Nivesh’ portal is in place to tap the investment opportunities in the AYUSH sector, Shri Kotecha noted. Launched two-and-a-half months ago by the Ministry of AYUSH and Invest India, the online site is being made available to all States and union territories, he added.
Kerala Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Dr Rajan N. Khobragade, who presided over the session, pointed out that the AYUSH sector’s responsibility was not only to treat patients but to ensure a healthy society overall. “This requires a large amount of data collection,” he pointed out in his talk online. “For this, we need IT solutions using modern technology in the AYUSH sector across the country.”
NAM Kerala Director Dr D. Sajith Babu said the workshop sought to guard against leaving out any State or union territory in the AYUSH sector’s digital services. “We must transform AYUSH IT services into a unified standard across the country. For this, we must prepare a national-level digital knowledge-sharing system and citizen-focused services,” he pointed out, underscoring the need for strengthening public-centric digital AYUSH services.
IT solutions will improve transparency and provide the best treatment system to the public, he added.
Other speakers comprised Union Ministry of AYUSH Joint Secretary Kavita Jain, Ministry Advisor Dr A. Raghu, Uttar Pradesh AYUSH Principal Secretary Ranjan Kumar, AYUSH Ministry Director Subodh Kumar and Homeopathy Medical Education Principal and Controlling Officer Dr T.K. Vijayan.
Overall, the two days of deliberations and presentations are in pursuit of strengthening citizen-centric digital services in AYUSH, besides framing strategies for uniform digital adoption. The event, with delegates from 28 states and eight union territories, seeks to formulate a centralised digital framework for AYUSH services in the country.
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