Delhi HC seeks Centre's response on PIL for 'Indian holistic integrated medicinal approach'

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Centre and other respondents to file a reply, in six weeks, to a plea seeking the adoption of an "Indian holistic integrated medicinal approach" rather than a "colonial segregated way" of allopathy, ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homeopathy in order to secure the right to health.

Filed as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta issued notice while counsel for Ministry of AYUSH, advocate Kirtiman Singh submitted that they have filed their affidavit in the matter.

Taking note of the fact that out of all the respondents, only the Ministry of AYUSH has filed its reply in the matter, the bench directed them to file it in the allotted time and listed the matter for the next hearing on July 25.

The Centre had earlier informed the court that the matter in issue had been referred to the NITI Aayog and is pending consideration.

In order to support the PIL, the Patanjali Research Institute had, in September 2022, filed an intervention application seeking their impleadment in the matter.

To secure the right to health, the plea also seeks to implement a holistic integrated common syllabus and common curriculum of allopathy, ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homeopathy for all medical colleges.

The petitioner has submitted that in spite of huge investments, the current healthcare system of India is not able to meet its standards and benefit the Indian population to fight against acute and chronic diseases.

"Health care delivery in India is classified under three categories primary, secondary, and tertiary care. All three levels need to work cohesively to help deliver healthcare on all four pillars," he said.

"The healthcare system of India, Sub-Centers and Primary Health Centers subsidise in the primary level of HCS; Community Health Centre contribute to a secondary level of HCS; although hospitals and medical colleges are considered in the tertiary level of HCS. Population Norms for Rural Health Care Infrastructure are as given on the next page," he has submitted.

The petitioner has further submitted that the suggested holistic integrated medicinal approach will favour the financially deprived section of the Indian population as this approach will be pocket friendly with high reach and will be able to cover such a huge dense population of the country.

"In order to establish an integrated medicinal system, the Government has already made certain amendments to enable these provisions to become a part of health care policies. But so far adopted strategies are not sufficient to provide an adequate platform for an integrated medicinal approach. Therefore, it is mandatory to make appropriate amendments to legalise the status of the integrated medicinal system," read the plea.

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