Udupi has bagged the credit for being the first district in the state to have a AyushGrama, a project of the state government meant to publicize Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy in villages. The project aims at attaining a healthy and clean village, re-admitting school dropouts and making people know the intrinsic worth of Indian systems of medicine. This project will get under way at Kalthur village in Hebri from Saturday and the state government has already released Rs 1 crore for it. The government has chosen 10 more gram panchayats for the project. Shanthivana Trust, Dharmasthala, has been entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the project in the village which is considered as backward with 38 per cent of the villagers hailing from SC/ST communities. The trust has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government for three years to carry out the scheme under the guidance of D Veerendra Heggade, dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala. As part of the project an Ayush Clinic will be set up in the village soon. The clinic will provide all types of Indian medicines free of cost to the villagers. Students of SDM Nature Cure Hospital, Ujire, have surveyed 980 houses in the village to understand their medical needs and to create awarness. Dr Prashanth Shetty, principal of the hospital told TOI that in the backdrop of villagers drastically leaning towards allopathic medicines, there is a dire need for creating awareness among villagers on merits of ayurvedic medicines.The clinic will have 20 staff- an Ayurveda doctor, a CEO, two programme officers, 10 health volunteers, three paramedical staffs, a multipurpose staff, a yogic teacher and a nurse. Apart from medical assistance, surveyors of Ayush Grama will also see to it that school dropouts are re-admitted to schools. They will also take steps to provide better drinking water and sanitation facilities in the village. Sandeep Nayak, an auto driver from Kenjoor Baidabettu said that he is happy to know that ayurvedic medicines will be made available free of cost at the clinic.
Source : The Times Of India