Covid-19 crisis inspires a “Research Culture” in Ayush disciplines
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the spotlight on the health-promotive and disease-preventive solutions of Ayush disciplines. What has not come into the limelight is the emerging nation-wide trend in the Ayush disciplines, of taking up evidence-based studies.
A study made a thorough search of the Clinical Trial Registry of India for the registered trials of COVID-19 involving Ayurveda Intervention from March 01, 2020 to June 25, 2020, without language restrictions. The number of new trials registered in Ayurveda during this period was seen to be 58.
News reports in August 2020 had revealed that out of the 203 trials registered in Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI), 61.5% were from Ayush disciplines. A recent study published in the ‘Journal of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences’ titled “Ayurveda Research Studies on COVID-19 Registered in CTRI: A critical appraisal” throws more light on this growing “research-culture” in Ayush disciplines.
Here is some additional insight into these CTRI registered trials involving Ayurveda and COVID-19. Of the total trial registered, approximately 70% of the trials were sponsored by the Government and various stakeholders of Ayurveda associated with the Ministry of AYUSH. These trials will provide useful information to the researchers which will help them to strategize the next course of action and also help the general public for understanding the contribution of Ayurveda in COVID-19. Once completed, the results of these promising studies will expectedly be published at the earliest so that it will be useful for the policymakers from the Ayush systems of medicines to strategize effective solutions to benefit public health initiatives. Further, in these challenging times, they will provide information for the global scientific community to know about the outcomes of Ayurveda clinical trials being conducted on COVID-19 in India. They will form potential source of information for further collaborative studies at the national and global levels.