Gujarat potential market for ayurveda-based tourism like panchkarma treatment

Gujarat which is doing well in medical tourism has good potential for Ayurveda-based medical tourism said members of the Mission Ayurveda, Rajkot on Friday. The mission is working for development of ayurvedic medicine in India. “Gujarat is the first state in India that start ayurveda university. Now it is time to explore other possibilities to develop and popularise ayurveda," said Gaurang Joshi, organizing secretary, Mission Ayurveda, Rajkot.

"Ayurveda based medical tourism is still an untouched area where Gujarat has good potential and many things can be explored," Joshi said. 
He said that on behalf of the mission he and his team would be soon meeting chief minister Narendra Modi to discuss ayurveda-based medical tourism in the state. They are also preparing a draft paper in this regard. 
Explaining the importance of ayurveda based tourism Joshi said, “Panchkarma treatment is becoming popular in Gujarat and India. So many people from abroad also come here for panchkarma treatment and we have to develop such policy which can increase ayurveda tourism in Gujarat,”Joshi said.
According to him more and more people are shifting to ayurveda but they face big problem of raw material. Due to lack of awareness and decline in natural forest cover area, availability of raw material has decreased, he added.
Dhirendra Joshi, president of Mission Ayurveda said, “India need separate drug control authority for ayurveda. While many things are being done in countries like America and Europe with regard to ayurveda based treatment and research, but in India nothing was being done.”He also felt that there was need to organise the sector. 
Giving details of the international ayurveda conference ‘Raj Ayu Con 2013’ to be held in February, Joshi said that they were considering to form national level association for ayurveda during the event.
The conference will include 28 national and international speakers, while 120 research papers on Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani comprising diversified segments will be presented during the event. Approximately 150 international delegates from USA, UK, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Israel and Brazil will participated in the event. While approximately 900 delegates from India will participate from across states.