title: Mainstreaming of Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy with the health care delivery system in India.
abstract: India has a population of 1.21 billion people and there is a high degree of socio-cultural, linguistic, and demographic heterogeneity. There is a limited number of health care professionals, especially doctors, per head of population. The National Rural Health Mission has decided to mainstream the Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) system of indigenous medicine to help meet the challenge of this shortage of health care professionals and to strengthen the delivery system of the health care service. Multiple interventions have been implemented to ensure a systematic merger; however, the anticipated results have not been achieved as a result of multiple challenges and barriers. To ensure the accessibility and availability of health care services to all, policy-makers need to implement strategies to facilitate the mainstreaming of the AYUSH system and to support this system with stringent monitoring mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Saurabh RamBihariLal
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Shrivastava
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Prateek Saurabh
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Shrivastava
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Jegadeesh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramasamy
keywords: Ayurvedic medicine; India; homeopathy; indigenous medicine; public health