The one thing that the otherwise impressive health system of the BMC lacks is a civic ayurvedic hospital in the city. It has been four years since an Ayurveda hospital was proposed in the city, but the civic administration is “still busy” finding a suitable location for it.
The proposal was put up in 2008 by the then mayor Shubha Raul, who insisted on setting up an Ayurveda hospital in the city. The civic administration responded positively and decided to launch a fully-equipped Ayurveda hospital with adequate number of doctors, nurses and other medical staff. The members of the then civic health committee even went on a study tour to Bengaluru to visit Ayurveda hospitals there. However, four years down the line, the proposal still remains on paper.
In a report recently tabled before the standing committee, the civic administration said the proposal for an Ayurveda hospital was still under consideration and the search for a site is still on.
Ms Raul lambasted the civic administration for its apathetic approach. “While ayurvedic treatment is gaining prominence worldwide, the civic administration has been utterly negligent in promoting it. There is growing awareness about Ayurveda in the city, but civic officials are not at all serious about the issue. We had made
a detailed plan about setting up such a hospital and presented it to top civic officials, but they did nothing.”
Slamming the civic administration’s claims of lack of space, she said, “There is plenty of place in the city that can be used for setting up an Ayurveda hospital. If the BMC provides a plot of land, the Ayurveda hospital can be set up at an expenditure as low as `1.5 crore, since it doesn’t require any high-cost equipment. Several ayurvedic doctors are also willing to work on an honorarium basis.”
A senior civic official refused to elaborate, merely saying, “We have Ayurveda facilities in KEM and Nair hospitals. Some civic dispensaries also provide ayurvedic treatment.”