Integration of Ayurveda and allopathic medicine: Opinion of experts who participated in the working group meetings for the preparation of the WHO benchmarks for the training and practice of Ayurveda

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the importance of integrating traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, with conventional medicine, and has taken several initiatives to promote this integration. The Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, agreed to host two WHO Working Group Meeting that took place at National Institute of Ayurveda (2018) and at Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (2019) for developing the WHO Benchmarks in Ayurveda with the participation of 27 experts from the six regions of World Health Organization. These WHO Benchmarks on Training and Practice of Ayurveda were published in March 2022. Excluding the author, 23 (89%) of the experts which participated in the said meetings answered a questionnaire about the integration of Ayurveda and allopathic medicine. A very significant majority of these experts (95%) considered that Ayurveda can make important contributions to conventional medicine and are in favor of the integration of Ayurveda and allopathic medicine. There is also a majority consensus that conventional physicians should have training in Ayurveda at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and that they should have training in Ayurvedic remedies. A large proportion of the experts consulted consider the prevailing view in the Ayurvedic government and official environment in India to be in favor of integration with allopathy, and a significant but somewhat smaller number appreciate this same trend in the Ayurvedic academic field of India. It is significant that almost two thirds believe that in the West, Ayurveda should be a specialty within conventional medicine.