SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has 5,564 registered AYUSH practitioners, the Union Government informed Parliament on Friday, while stating that the assessment of shortages of AYUSH doctors and paramedical staff and their recruitment falls under the jurisdiction of the respective State and Union Territory governments.
In a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH Prataprao Jadhav said that public health is a State subject and, therefore, identifying shortages and undertaking recruitment of AYUSH personnel are the responsibility of the concerned State or UT administration.
According to the data placed before Parliament, Jammu and Kashmir has 2,393 registered Ayurveda practitioners, 2,602 Unani practitioners, 78 Sowa-Rigpa practitioners and 491 Homoeopathy practitioners, taking the total number of registered AYUSH doctors in the Union Territory to 5,564.
The Minister said the Centre has undertaken several initiatives to strengthen AYUSH healthcare services, including the establishment and strengthening of 12 National Institutes, such as the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), along with five research councils under the Ministry of AYUSH.
The reply stated that the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) is being implemented through State and Union Territory governments to improve access to Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy services, while the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) and the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) regulate standards relating to medical education, teaching faculty, hospitals and infrastructure.
Responding to concerns over digital healthcare and referral systems, the Government said the Ministry has developed the AYUSH Hospital Management Information System (AHMIS) under the Ayush Grid initiative. The platform is integrated with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and supports patient registration, standardised diagnostics, digital health records, referral services, monitoring and reporting.
The Government did not provide any State or Union Territory-wise assessment of shortages of AYUSH doctors or paramedical staff, reiterating that such assessments are conducted by the respective State and UT governments.
According to the reply, India has 7,71,626 registered AYUSH practitioners, including 3,50,174 Ayurveda, 48,242 Unani, 8,386 Siddha, 95 Sowa-Rigpa and 3,64,729 Homoeopathy practitioners.
