Andhra Pradesh allocates funds to promote Ayurveda in schools and hospitals

The Andhra Pradesh government has sanctioned six crore and fifty lakh rupees to spread awareness about Ayurveda and healthy food habits among students across eight thousand four hundred schools under the 'Ayur Vidya' program. State Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav announced this funding while sharing details about government support for Ayurveda services ahead of National Ayurveda Day. To improve medical infrastructure, the government has sanctioned twenty-seven crore rupees for building fifty-bedded integrated AYUSH hospitals and buying equipment in six districts, including Srikakulam, Alluri Sitarama Raju, NTR, Guntur, Prakasam, and Tirupati. Funds totaling forty-six crore and twenty-three lakh rupees have been set aside to finish construction work in one hundred and fifty dispensaries, buy equipment, and modernize and digitize another sixty-four Ayurveda dispensaries. Money has also been released to supply free medicines every year to three hundred and thirty-four primary dispensaries, forty NRHM centres, two special hospitals, and the Ayurveda teaching hospital in Vijayawada. Specific grants include thirteen lakh and twenty thousand rupees for an eye treatment pilot program named 'Akshi Tarpana' at the Vijayawada Ayurveda hospital, ten lakh and seventy-three lakh rupees for a herbal decoction centre at Dr. NRS Ayurveda College, and fifteen lakh and seventy-nine thousand rupees to run an Ayurveda clinic at the High Court. Fifty-five Ayurveda Panchakarma special health centres have also received funds for their operations. For elderly care, sixty-two lakh and forty thousand rupees have been given for medical services in tribal, SC, and ST regions. Another two crore and five lakh rupees have been sanctioned for services across twenty-six centres focused on preventing nerve and joint disorders as well as age-related health problems.