Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik on Wednesday urged all state governments to consider amending their state medical practioners act to enable AYUSH system to deal with medical emergencies.

According to Naik, several states including Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have already made such amendments in their respective medical Practitioner acts. Speaking at the 3rd edition of State AYUSH/Health Ministers' Conference held here, Naik said there was an urgent need to stop misguided advertisements about AYUSH drugs appearing in the print and electronic media.

"Central Government has entered into an MoU with the Advertising Council of India to check such fraudulent claims relating to AYUSH projects," he said, adding that the state Governments could also bring such advertisements to the notice of the said council.

The purpose of this conference was to discuss the various issues connected with propagation and mainstreaming of AYUSH and also to take stock of the progress made and developments that took place during the last two years.

Stating that the ministry had developed Ayurveda protocols as well as Yoga protocols for prevention and control of diabetes, Naik stated that another landmark achievement was that the insurance companies had started entertaining the claims for reimbursement made by policyholders for the expenditure made on AYUSH treatment.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Health & Social Justice, Government of Kerela, K.K. Shailja Teacher said that they had decided to set up an International Research Institute of Ayurveda in the state.