Date:01/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/01/stories/2008010154010400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Siddha drug testing lab will come up at Tambaram

Special Correspondent

The State Government has earmarked a five-acre land

— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

In discussion: (From left) M.R.K. Panneerselvam, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Dr. K. Meer Mustafa Hussain, Vice-Chancellor, Tamilnadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, at a Siddha scientific seminar in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: A state-of-the-art Siddha drug testing laboratory, said to be the first such facility in the country, will be set up at Tambaram to scientifically validate the safety and efficacy of Siddha formulations, Health Minister M. R. K. Panneerselvam said on Monday.

Inaugurating a “Siddha scientific seminar” organised by the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, he said the Centre had allotted Rs. 25 crore for the International Siddha Drug Testing Laboratory project. The State Government had earmarked a five-acre land adjoining the National Institute of Siddha at Tambaram.

Mr. Panneerselvam said urbanisation, sedentary lifestyle and changed dietary patterns had led to an increase in morbidity. He urged Siddha medical practitioners to develop cures for diseases such as AIDS and cancer.

The Government, he said, was committed to promoting Siddha. He assured Siddha medicine students that there would be no dearth of jobs as there was a Siddha unit in the Primary Health Centres.

In his keynote address, K. Meer Mustafa Hussain, Vice-Chancellor of the Dr. MGR Medical University, said that though the Siddha system had several effective medicines for many a disease, the major hiccup was that these results had not been scientifically validated. He called for adoption of scientific validation tools to make Siddha an evidence-based system.

S. Boopathiraj, Director (in-charge), National Institute of Siddha, said the Siddha system and its treatment philosophy were not fully understood and called for concerted efforts to accord Siddha its due status among various branches of medicine in the world. B. Selva Pandian, head of department, Siddha, Dr. MGR Medical University, and E. M. Manikgantan, Siddha lecturer, spoke.