Ayurveda : Ancient Heritage in the Age of Globalisation - page 20

Ayurveda : Ancient Heritage in the Age of Globalisation 19
there are 2416 hospitals with a total of 43710 beds, 13989
dispensaries, 460001 registered practitioners, 241 UG
colleges with a total admission capacity of 11375, 66 PG
colleges with a total admission capacity of 1092 and 7910
manufacturing units. The apex body of Ayurveda in the
country is Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha
and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) under the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare(www.indianmedicine.nic.in ). The
central body that regulates Ayurveda education and
practice is Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM).
Graduate, Post Graduate and Postdoctoral courses are
conducted in institutions recognised by CCIM (www.
ccimindia.org) Manufacture and related activities in
Ayurveda sector are regulated by a Drugs and Cosmetics
Act, 1940. It is now mandatory since 2000 that all
manufacturing units should have a Good Manufacturing
Practices (GMP) Certificate and all products that
are exported should be subjected to Heavy Metal
testing. There is a central Governmental laboratory,
Pharmacopoeial Laboratory of Indian Medicine (PLIM)
that workson standards and quality control of Ayurveda
medicines. (www.plimism.nic.in). All scientific activities
inAyurvedicfield comeunder Central Council forResearch
in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS), which is an autonomous
organization under the Department of AYUSH. The Council
has a huge network of research institutes, units and