KERALA TO SET UP AYURVEDA VILLAGE AND TREATMENT CENTRE AT PONMUDI

KERALA TO SET UP AYURVEDA VILLAGE AND TREATMENT CENTRE AT PONMUDI

The state government has decided to set up a Rs 200-crore Global Ayurveda Villagewith a well-equipped treatment centre at Ponmudi through public-private partnership. Many companies, including those from Malaysia, have expressed interest in the project featured at the Emerging Kerala summit.The state government has allotted Rs 5 crore to kickstart the project, to be implemented over three years in three phases. KINFRA, the nodal agency, plans to acquire 200 acres for the same. "About 148 acres will be acquired soon near Ponmudi and this being a project to promote indigenous knowledge, it will not be tough to acquire land,"  KINFRA  officials said.This is based on the agenda for global acceptance of ayurveda and to transform Kerala into the world capital of ayurveda as stated in the development agenda of the state chalked out by mentor to state government Sam Pitroda," said Dr J Muraleedharan, special officer of the Global Ayurveda Village. The ayurveda treatment centre will be a centre of excellence with a wellness centre specialising in diabetes  and immunity clinic, health tourism benefits for visitors from across the world, tele-health support through video conferencing of doctors and patients, medicinal plant cultivation on tie-ups with agriculture universities, research coordination, quality, safety and efficacy studies, he said.

Around 12 companies have been shortlisted from among the 20 globally reputed firms that responded to the tender to prepare a detailed project report and these include companies from Ireland , the US, China and Malaysia.Malaysian Special Envoy to India Dato Seri S Samy Velu   said, "Kerala should set up a state-of-the-art Ayurveda city to tap the potential in the sector." Advising the state to opt for the PPP model in health and tourism sectors, he said  Malaysia would be keen to invest in ayurveda and allied sectors in Kerala. Stating that Malaysia will work closely with Kerala in developing more projects, he said, "15 years ago, we took 15 hours to cover 800 miles but now it is possible to travel that distance in just eight hours because of PPP success."Recalling the success of PPP in his country, he called upon Kerala to formulate special schemes and ensure priority lending with zero per cent interest to key PPP projects in infrastructure and healthcare.

                                                                               Prof. John Kurakar