Shillong, May 15: Minister in-charge Health and Family Welfare Ampareen Lyngdoh on Monday asserted the need for the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda & Homoeopathy (NEIAH) to further adopt research on traditional medicines and practices in the state.

Speaking to media persons after the inauguration of six new buildings as part of the Project II of NEIAH by Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal, Lyngdoh said, “The minister of AYUSH has just invited me to join him in a big consultation, a conclave in Delhi on May 18-19. We have to talk about it. The institute should put in all efforts to adopt further research on locally available practices which are common among the tribes of the Garos, of the Khasis and the Jaintias.”

She also informed that the government will ensure that traditional healers of the state also get equal coverage in this huge government of India plan and said, “I am going to definitely promote this and I am going to fight to ensure that our local traditional practices are also benefited by this big institution being placed in the heart of Shillong.”

Stating that affordable treatment is another very big concern in an institution like NEIAH, the minister said, “I just brought it to the attention of the minister. Yyou may bring us a traditional practice like AYUSH practice here, (but) we must make sure that people can afford it because obviously the very chronic ailments will very likely seek this kind of a window and there is big promise that AYUSH will now be a part of national mainstream healthcare. It will now be part of the system over and above Homeopathy. So, we will fight that our traditional healers also get a fair opportunity to benefit from this institution.”