Revitalising Indian Medical Heritage brochure

Item

Title: Revitalising Indian Medical Heritage brochure
extracted text: SDA-RF-AT-3.27

Institutional Status
FRLHT is a registered Public Trust and Chari table Society, which started its activities outlined
below in March 1993. The Ministry of Science & Technology (DSIR) recognizes FRLHT as a
scientific and research organization. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has designated
FRLHT as a National Center of Excellence for medicinal plants and traditional knowledge.

Profile of Activities

Mission
FRLHT's mission is to revitalize the traditional health sciences by high
quality research, training world-class human resources and creative
community sendees. This mission is focused on 3 thrust areas viz.,

•

Fundamental and Trans-disciplinary research on Traditional Health Knowledge
systems including the community based local health traditions.

•

Conservation of the natural resources (flora, fauna, metals and minerals) used by
Indian Medical Heritage

•

Designing sustainable community outreach programs related to the above two
thrust areas

Vision
The vision of FRLHT is enhancing the quality of healthcare in rural and urban India and

globally by creative application of India's Traditional Health Sciences.

Conservation of Natural Resources: Since the mid 70s ICAR and CSIR had been focusing on
standardizing agro-technologies for around forty-five species of medicinal plants but no
institution in India was promoting conservation of the wild gene pools of the 8000 species that
constitute the medicinal wealth of India. Between 1993 and 2004 in collaboration with state
forest departments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra,
FRLHT has conceived, designed and technically guided a 40 crore project for the creation of 55
Forest Gene Banks (FGBs) of 200-500 hectares size each, across Peninsular India. These 55
FGBs have been designated by the State Governments as permanent Medicinal Plant
Conservation Areas and they capture the gene pools of the medicinal plant diversity of the
region. In 2004, the UNDP and GEF (Global Environment Facility) have pledged to work with
MoEF, Govt, of India to expand the Peninsular India program to the N.E., N.W. and Central
India. FRLHT has been designated as the technical resource agency for guiding this program.

Awards

1998: FRLHT received the prestigious Norman Borlaug Award.
2002: 'Medicinal Plants Programme' in Peninsular India was one of the projects selected by the
UN from around the globe for the Equator Initiative Prize.
2003: The Rosenthal Centre for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, in the Columbia
University, New York, awarded FRLHT with its first award for "International Cultural
Stewardship".
2007: Rotary Club of Bangalore awarded FRLHT its "Citizen Extra Ordinaire" award for its
path breaking contributions to the field of traditional medicine & environment

Information Technology & Traditional Knowledge : The use of Information Technology for
processing the vast and rich materia medica of Traditional Systems of Medicine was pioneered
by FRLHT in 1995. This is an innovative program for the modernization of Indian systems of
medicine in order to improve their access, and mine their knowledge base for a variety of
research purposes. FRLHT, by 2004, has developed multi-disciplinary databases on medicinal
plants linking the traditional materia - medica (on plants and metals & minerals) computerised
from primary texts over the period 1500 BC to 1900 AD to fields like botany, agriculture,
geology, conservation, trade, phy to-chemistry and pharmacology.
Bridge between Traditional Knowledge and
Science:
FRLHT lab, set up in 2001, is a pioneering
initiative in epistemologically informed crosscultural research. Its work is based on a rigorous
methodology (that is still evolving) for corelating concepts, categories and approaches of
traditional knowledge systems with modem
science. It has standard facilities in chemistry
(including phytochemistry) & biology
(including microbiology and molecular
biology). Over the last 7-years it has
standardized raw materials and processes used
in traditional medicine and developed innovative products for industry on a consultancy basis.
It has initiated research on basic concepts of Ayurvedic pharmacology like 'rasa' and is
investigating traditional methods for purifying water and has developed an innovative, low
cost, chemical kit for identification of medicinal plants.
Scientific Repositories of Natural Resources:

FRLHT pioneered in 1995, the establishment of the first internationally accredited herbarium
(botanical repository) of the medicinal plants of India. At the end of 2004 the Herbarium has
collected around 70% of the medicinal plants used by the codified Indian Systems of Medicine.
FRLHT has already initiated digitization of the herbarium, and has planned in future to
expand the repositor}' to include medicinal fauna and the metals and minerals used by
traditional systems of medicine.

Revitalisation of Folk Healing Systems: Since 1995 FRLHT has been working with a network
of community based organizations to revitalize local health cultures in rural communities in
Southern India. It has sponsored dozens of taluka, district and state level conventions of folk
healers in Southern states. For the last nine years it has also been giving annual Nati Vaidya
Ratna awards to outstanding folk healers.
A very significant program for promoting health security of rural households was initiated by
FRLHT in 2000. Under this program in collaboration with reputed NGOs and self-help women
groups over 200,000 home herbal gardens have been established across the states of Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa & Chattisgarh and the
households trained in the use of the herbs for primary healthcare.
Since 2002, FRLHT has been doing field studies to document and evaluate traditional bone
setting, veterinary practices and preventive treatments for Malaria in South India. It has
helped to establish around 100 folk healer associations in rural communities across four
southern states.
Mini Hospital: In 2004, FRLHT has started a small 20-bed Ayurveda & Yoga nursing home on
its campus in Bangalore to standardize holistic strategies for management of different health
conditions. This facility is planned io be up scaled to a 100-bed clinical research hospital and
wellness centre in 2008.
A Herbal Public Ltd Company owned
by Rural Women and Small Farmers:
In 2001, FRLHT initiated a community'
owned enterprise whose shareholders
are small marginal farmers and rural
women. It is called the Gram Mooligai
Company Ltd. This company is
designed along the AMUL model for the
herbal sector. It is registered under the
Companies Act. The company engages
in cultivation, collection and value
addition of herbal products.

Governing Council Members (2004-08)
Mr. Sam G. Pitroda
Chairman, WorldTEL, UK
Dr. Kamaljit Bawa
Conservation Biologist,
Distinguished Professor,
University of Massachusetes, USA
Mr. AV Balasubramanian
Director, Centre for Indian
Knowledge Systems, Chennai
Dr. Gerard Bodeker
Professor, Public Health Policy
Oxford University, UK
Dr. Ashok Jhunihunwala
Professor, IIT, Cnennai
Dr. MS Valiathan
Honorary Advisor,
Manipal Academy of Higher
Education, Manipal

i
;
i
,

VG Devadasan Namboodiripad
Managing director, Nagarjuna
Ayurvedic Group, Kalayanthani,
Thodupuzha, Kerala
Ms. Gayathri Shetty
Director, Gayathri & Namit
Associates, Koramangala,
Bangalore
Ms. Indu Kapoor
Director, Chetna,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Prof. KRS Murthy
Former Director,
Indian Institute of Management,
Bangalore
Ms. Bhargavi Amina
Vedic Scholar,
Eroor, Emakulam
Kerala

;
i
]
;
J

Prof. Raniit Roy Chaudhury
Emeritus Professor, Clinical
Pharmacology, National Institute of
Immunology, (Former Reg. Director,
World Health Organisation, Burma)

. Mr. SN Batliwala
; Representative of
i Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai

1 Dr. Padma Venkat
i Jt. Director (Lab), FRLHT
1 Mr. DK Ved, IFS
i Addl. Director, FRLHT
1 Mr. Darshan Shankar
1 Executive Director, FRLHT

Our Supporters
Folk Healers, ISM Physicians and Scholars
NGO & CBO Partners
State Forest Departments
Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India, New Delhi
Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi
National Medicinal Plants Board, New Delhi
Royal Danish Embassy, New Delhi
Ford Foundation, New Delhi
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
UNDP, New Delhi
ETC, Netherlands
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai
National Geographic Society, USA
Mr Shibulal, Founder Director, INFOSYS

FRLHT
Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions
74/2, Jarakabande Kaval, Yelahanka via, Attur Post, Bangalore-560 064 INDIA.
Tel:+91 80 28568000 Fax:+91 80 28567926 E-mail: info@frlht.org. Website: www.frlht.org

Media: SDA-RF-AT-3.27.pdf

Position: 1560 (6 views)