Hoshiarpur Ayurved varsity to have 100-bed hospital
Established in February 2011 by the state government, Guru Ravidas Ayurved University, Hoshiarpur, is going to have a 100-bed hospital with fully functional in-patient and outpatient departments (IPDs and OPDs).
The university, which is set up on 38 acres at Kharkan, nearly 12 km from the city, has so far been performing administrative functions only. As many as 18 Ayurvedic colleges (including Government Ayurvedic College at Patiala), two homoeopathic colleges and a Unani college at Sangrur are affiliated to the university. The varsity was set up to uplift Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and homeopathy (AYUSH) in the state. So far, no classes were run on the campus.
Dr Sanjeev Sood, who assumed the charge of Vice-Chancellor on April 19, said, “My topmost priority is to start a teaching department on the campus. We will begin with offering BAMS course. For it, the university needs to have a 100-bed hospital with fully functional IPD and OPDs. Proposal for the same is being readied and will be placed before the Board of Management (BoM) soon. At present, only one OPD of medicine is functional at the university. As soon as the proposal is approved, there will be nine different OPDs having consultant physicians. Later, faculty will be recruited to run classes.”
Dr Sood said, “The emphasis will be on research-based programmes. I wish to introduce MD Ayurveda in 14 subjects at the university.” He added that since the university was meant to promote Ayush, various courses of Ayurveda, naturopathy and yoga sciences would be added.
“The BoM has approved several courses, including Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yoga Sciences (BNYS), BSc Yoga, MSc Yoga, Diploma in Meditation and Yoga Science and PG Diploma in Yoga Sciences. The process to develop the syllabus of the BNYS is underway. The course will be introduced soon,” he said.
Asked about other courses that are being planned, the VC said Ayurvedic hospitals faced one problem that the nursing staff was either ANM or GNM with training in handling allopathic medicines. “They have no experience in Ayurvedic medicine. To fill this gap, we propose to introduce Ayurvedic nursing courses, including Diploma in Nursing and BSc in Nursing,” he said.
The VC also shared plans to strengthen, develop and upgrade the quality and range of Ayurvedic products at the pharmacy run under Rajindra Ayurvedic College, Patiala, a constituent college of the university. He said adopting a new approach towards education under the New Education Policy, a competency-based dynamic system of teaching and learning had been introduced in the university.
The colleges under the university are being encouraged to go for Quality Council of India Assessment and Rating of Medical Colleges and Allied Institutes (QCI-MAR) rating. “Six colleges have adopted it and half of them have attained the ‘B’ rating. Other colleges will be encouraged to go for it. Special emphasis will be given to update the faculty through faculty development programmes,” said Dr Sood.
Punjab