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ASHC pitches for Madurai as the ideal location to set up proposed All India Institute of Siddha
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Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
December 22 , 2020
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Hailing the initiative being taken by the Tamil Nadu Minister with the Central government to approve one All India Institute of Siddha (AIIS) in the state, the Madurai-based Association of Siddha Hospitals and Clinics (ASHC) has wanted the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister to select Madurai as the ideal location for the proposed All India Institute.
ASHC’s demand comes in the wake of the chief minister’s request to the Prime Minister to set up one All India Institute of Siddha in Chennai.
In Madurai district and nearby localities, there are around one hundred medicine manufacturing companies operating and out of them prominent 25 units are of Siddha and Ayurveda systems. ASHC argues that work for the central government approved establishment of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai has already begun, so it will benefit the development of the all India Siddha institute. Further, the location is easily accessible through road, railway and air (Madurai Airport).
According to Dr Jayavenkatesh, president of ASHC, if the National Institute of Siddha is opened in Madurai, the city will become an iconic medical education hub for teaching and treating. Further, it will cater to the healthcare and medical education needs of thousands of people and students of southern Tamil Nadu. Madurai is surrounded by the districts Dindigul and Trichy (North), Sivagangai (East), Theni (West) and Virudhunagar (South) which depend on Madurai for medical and education facilities. Besides, the soil in these resourceful districts is fertile for herbs and medicinal plant cultivation.
“Chennai has already got one central institute, the National Institute of Siddha (NIS) at Thambaram. The Central Council of Research in Siddha (CCRS) under the Ministry of Ayush is also working in Chennai. In addition to this, one Siddha medical college and hospital is run there by the state government. So, the government should consider Madurai as the ideal place for the establishment of the All Institute of Siddha,” says Dr Jayavenkatesh who has taken the initiative with the central and state governments to shift the proposed institute from Chennai to Madurai.
He said apart from teaching and treating facilities, the proposed AIIS will generate employment for several people and help farmers to cultivate medicinal plants in the southern districts.
The Siddha practitioners in Madurai and nearby districts feel that since Madurai is a tourist centre, the domestic arrivals and the inflow of overseas tourists to the temple city will increase when these two national medical institutes, AIIMS and AIIS, are established once in Madurai. It is also accessible for people from Kerala, who visit the temples in Madurai and nearby districts during festival seasons.
The Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) has also wanted the state chief minister to recommend for the proposed institution in Madurai. The president of the association in his letter to the chief minister said Madurai is one of the important areas where practice of Siddha medicine was first started decades ago.
Meanwhile, Dr T Thirunarayanan, secretary of the Chennai based Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR), an exclusive research institute for Siddha medicines, has opined that if Siddha has to be popular across the country the Central government sponsored institute should be established outside of Tamil Nadu. He suggested Bengaluru as the ideal place for the AIIS. However, he said, since the state chief minister has recommended it for the state, it can be set up either in Trichy or in Coimbatore.
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