Kolkata: The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal made major announcements to build capacity at the National Institute of Homoeopathy (NIH) in Kolkata during an event on Monday.

Sonowal also laid the foundation stone of a new multi-storied boys hostel at the National Institute of Homoeopathy (NIH).

This was in line with the announcement made by Union Minister Sonowal to establish this hostel when he visited the NIH in 2021.

Giving a tremendous boost to the capacity of NIH, the Ayush Minister announced that the capacity of NIH, which is presently at 100 beds, will be enhanced substantially by 150 additional beds, more than doubling the capacity of NIH to reach 250 beds.

With an aim to boost ‘Make in India’, the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal further announced setting up of a manufacturing unit at the NIH campus for production of homeopathic medicine soon. In order to further facilitate student welfare, two hostels, for both boys & girls, for post graduate students will be built at the NIH campus,  Sonowal announced.

The new hostel for boys students of the institute will be built at an estimated cost of ₹46 crores. The ceremony was also attended by the Union Minister of State for Ayush and Women & Child Development, Dr Mahendra Munjpara; Director, NIH, Prof (Dr) Subhas Singh among other senior officials of Ministry of Ayush.

The multi storied hostel for boys will have G+7 floors with a provision to add another two floors. It will accommodate 400 under-graduate students of the NIH. The building will be equipped with all the modern amenities like gymnasium, common room, guest rooms, kitchen dining area among others. It is to be noted that a girls hostel of NIH was inaugurated by Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal earlier.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “It is a moment of great pleasure to be here at the National Institute of Homoeopathy to lay the foundation for a modern multi-storied boys hostel for the benefit of students. As the traditional medicinal practices got a boost under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, we must keep up the pace and equip and enable institutions to help produce doctors who can join the cause of building a healthy &‘Swastha Bharat’. In order to realise this, I believe we must enable and empower NIH to become a centre of clinical excellence. It is with great pleasure I would like to inform you that we have decided to add an additional 150 beds to the existing capacity of NIH as well as start the manufacturing unit at the campus to produce Homeopathic medicines. For the benefit of PG students, we plan to build hostels for both boys and girls as well as an auditorium with 1500 people capacity to be built at the NIH. These new initiatives to boost capacity at NIH will benefit students at NIH will play a crucial and major role towards realisation of this objective.”

Adding further, Sonowal added, “I take this opportunity to congratulate everyone at NIH for being one of the centres of prominence when it comes to traditional medicine, especially Homoeopathy, in the country. With more than 2000 people availing health care services at NIH, it is providing a tremendous service towards healthcare of the country, especially in West Bengal. You must strive towards excellence continuously and enable the traditional medicinal practices to deliver the maximum towards providing healthcare solutions in the country. Homoeopathy is a popular form of medicine in India, especially in West Bengal. Many stalwarts of Bengal like Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, pioneer of homoeopathy in India, as well as Pandit Rabindra Nath Tagore’s pioneering role in popularising homoeopathy is evident with its wider acceptability in this part of the world. We must take advantage of this and extend our reach to deliver quality healthcare solutions to the people of the country. The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi remains committed to promote the Ayush system of medicine and integrate it with the healthcare apparatus of the country for benefit of the people.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mahendra Munjapara, Union Minister of State for Ayush and Women & Child Development, said, “NIH, Kolkata is offering unparalleled educational opportunities in homoeopathy for learners community. It is serving the nation by advancing, sharing and applying knowledge, and by facilitating the development of thoughtful, creative, adaptable, contributing towards building a force of doctors to aide and help patients. Homoeopathy, as a practice, has tremendous potential and it needs to show its superiority to other systems in all the crucial areas viz,, curative, preventive, promoting and rehabilitative healthcare. West Bengal is known as the cradle of Homoeopathy and NIH is at the heart of it. With the infrastructure boost to NIH, I hope and believe that it will continue to progress towards further the reach of homoeopathy as a healthcare practice providing curative as well as life enriching support to lakhs of patients across the country.”

Appraising about the NIH, Subhash Singh, Director, NIH, said, “Our institute has two campuses - one here in Kolkata and other in New Delhi. As many as 47 students enroll in the Post Graduate courses while 126 students join the under graduate courses every year. Admission into our Delhi campus is under process. NIH, Kolkata is designated as Intermediary Pharmacovigilance centre for Homoeopathy (IPVC) in India by the Ministry of Ayush. Doctors trained at NIH are working as faculties in most homoeopathy institutions across India and officiating many leadership roles for the promotion of Homoeopathy in the country. NIH, Kolkata with its main campus along with 10 peripheral OPDs across various parts of West Bengal, played a crucial role during the COVID pandemic. We continue to organise several CME or training programmes for homeopathic practitioners as well as CGHS doctors. NIH is also developing a Herbal Garden of medicinal plants with an estimated investment of ₹25 lakhs the help of National Medical Plantation Board, Ministry of Ayush. NIH is working with other premier institutions like NIPER via an MoU for collaborative research on cancer therapeutics, an MoU with AIIMS, Raipur at facilitation collaboration towards advancement, application in practice and for various collaborative research work.”