KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress General Secretary and former Health Minister Pradip Paudel has welcomed the rise in business and medicine production at Singha Durbar Vaidyakhana, crediting the continuation of policies and plans initiated during his tenure.
Responding to Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s statement on expanding the Vaidyakhana’s production to 150 types of medicines and achieving self-reliance in 35 free medicines, Paudel expressed appreciation for the government’s focus on Ayurveda.
Paudel said the institution’s recent progress reflects policies and programmes introduced when he served as health minister. He argued that Ayurveda must be mainstreamed into Nepal’s healthcare system to build a “healthy Nepal.”
He said the previous government had prepared a 10-year National Ayurveda and Alternative Medicine Strategy, targeting a 30% reduction in non-communicable diseases and an increase in Ayurveda healthcare professionals.
Paudel also highlighted a five-year strategic plan aimed at reviving the more than 380-year-old Vaidyakhana, which had been producing only around 20 types of medicines. The plan targeted increasing the domestic market share of locally produced medicines to 60% and implementing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
He cited other initiatives from his tenure, including expanding preventive Ayurveda services, launching specialised Panchakarma and yoga services, strengthening domestic medicine production and export policies, and beginning the process of establishing a Drug Research and Development Unit and a medicinal plants authority.
Paudel urged the current government to ensure adequate and sustained funding for the Vaidyakhana’s strategic plan, strengthen drug research, expand access to the 35 free medicines through Ayurveda health centres, promote medicinal herb cultivation, facilitate international medicine exports and include specialised Ayurveda services and medicines in the national health insurance programme.
“Good policies can build a prosperous nation only when they are continued,” Paudel said, adding that he would provide constructive support for every positive government initiative aimed at developing Ayurveda in Nepal.
