By Ifham Nizam

Indigenous medicine and Ayurveda had been identified as a sector that can earn a lot of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka, and a number of initiatives had been launched to tap into this market, Commissioner of Ayurveda, Dr. M.D.J. Abeygunawardena said yesterday, addressing a virtual media conference at the Presidential Media Centre under the theme ‘Indigenous Medicine to the World’.

Indigenous medicine and Ayurveda traditional medicine systems had a very high commercial value in the post-COVID-19 era, he said, adding that therefore, Sri Lanka had to promote them through new strategies.

‘Arrangements are being made to provide an integrated service of Western, Indigenous and Ayurvedic medical systems,” the Commissioner said.

Ayurvedic Community Medical Practitioners are playing a vital role in the prevention of non-communicable diseases at school level, Kumari Weerasekara, Secretary to the State Ministry of Indigenous Medicine Promotion, Rural and Ayurveda Hospitals Development and Community Health said.

She also said that as a large number of local medicines were released to the market, there was a greater need for better monitoring mechanisms and medicinal drug regulations.

Asked by journalists whether the plans had been made to legalise cannabis cultivation, the Commissioner of Ayurveda said that the use of cannabis as a basic ingredient in the indigenous medicine had been permitted by the “Indigenous Medicine Act of 1961”.

Abeygunawardena said that he was unable to say whether cannabis could be cultivated on a commercial scale here, and at present there was no shortage of cannabis required for medicines.

A programme had been launched to regulate all places that operated as Ayurvedic Massage Centres and steps taken to enforce the law against all illegal centres, the Commissioner said, noting that steps would be taken to award the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Certificate to the trained Ayurvedic practitioners targeting employment in the tourism industry and plans were afoot to set up Herbal Gardens and Health Centers in tourist zones in the future.