UNITED KINGDOM, September 26, 2002: The United Kingdom has agreed to upgrade ayurveda from single drugs category three to one, thus accepting its scientific base. The UK government has also set up a Herbal Medicines Regulatory Working Group to consider the possibility of suggesting enhancement of law to regulate drugs and practice in herbal medicines, including ayurveda, a government release said here Wednesday. British authorities have worked out a tentative curricula of 2,560 hours, in which ayurveda has been allotted 1,150 hours. However, this is inadequate and, in the given situation, only two options remained — either to be left out of the herbal medicine regulation course or have a foothold with a dominant ayurveda content, it said. To promote ayurveda at the international level, the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy forwarded to the British authorities a core curricula covering 1,700 hours of teaching of ayurveda. The Indian Government is also trying to get a recognition for the five-and-half year ayurveda BAMS course and registration of India-qualified physicians in the UK.
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