Date:19/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/07/19/stories/2005071901561700.htm

Back Arya Vaidya Pharmacy plans information centre, more clinics

L.N. Revathy

Coimbatore , July 18

PERCEIVED interest in traditional medicine has compelled the promoters of the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore) to kickstart AVP Clinic and Ayurveda Information Centre (AIC).

"We are planning to open at least 30 AVP Clinic and AICs across the country to cater to the growing demand for such treatment," the AVP Managing Director, Vaidyar P.R. Krishnakumar, said here.

He said AVP has, over the last two years, registered a 50 per cent increase in the number of patients seeking treatment at its 120-bed Trust hospital - `Chikitsalayam'. "The growing awareness about ayurveda as a medical science is obvious from the long wait the patient has to suffer before we admit him/her for treatment at the Chikitsalayam. The waiting period is not less than six months," he said and added that AVP Clinic would serve as a therapeutic centre for providing oil application therapies to out patients under clinical supervision, while the AIC would facilitate the public seeking any medical query or clarifications on ayurveda.

The AVP has also proposed to simultaneously expand operations by opening a 250-bed Ayurveda hospital near Palakkad. "We have taken possession of the land and the plan is ready.

This would be one of the largest specialised facilities for traditional ayurvedic healthcare in the country," he told Business Line.

AVP is also contemplating an allopathic college close to the proposed hospital project site to facilitate research.