The Ministry of Ayush and WHO signed a Host Country Agreement on 25th March 2022 for the establishment of the first WHO’s Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India. The salient aspects of this agreement are as follows:
- That WHO will set up GCTM Centre in Jamnagar (Gujarat).
- That it aims to support nations in developing policies & action plans to strengthen the role of traditional medicine as part of their journey to universal health coverage.
- The Government shall respect the functional independence of WHO in carryingout its activities and in assigning to the Centre such WHO officials or other WHO personnel as it deems necessary for carrying out the particular functions assigned to the Centre.
- The Government shall provide to WHO, free of charge, appropriate and adequate office premises for the Centre and its installations.
- The Government shall also be responsible for the maintenance and security of the workplace premises for the Centre, its installations and technical plants, together with storage and archive space, meeting space, equipment and other facilities.
The Ground breaking ceremony of main office of WHO GCTM has been carried out by the Prime Minister and DG WHO in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The construction of Interim office of WHO GCTM is under progress.
All expenditure involved for operational, programmatic, infrastructure and construction costs of the Interim Office and the Main Office of WHO GCTM will be borne by the Ministry of Ayush. The financial implications of Rs. 130.00 Cr (approx.) have been approved by the Ministry of Ayush towards the functional cost of the Interim Office of WHO-GCTM and Funds of Rs. 63.26 Cr have been released till date.
The WHO-GCTM Centre aims to provide support for all traditional medicines in the world. No proposal is under consideration for setting up another such type of centre elsewhere in India.
This information was given by Minister of Ayush Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.