CAG of India2023-07-222023-07-222005https://resourcerepository.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/handle/apurr/101Government of India established the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (renamed AYUSH from November 2003) in March 1995 with the main objectives of promoting good health, expanding the outreach of AYUSH healthcare through preventive, promotive, mitigating and curative interventions, improving the quality of teachers and clinicians, ensuring affordable and efficacious AYUSH services and drugs and integrating AYUSH in healthcare delivery system and National Health Programmes. This report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India contains performance appraisal of Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The performance audit covering the period 2000-01 to 2004-05 was conducted through test check of records of the Department of AYUSH including its subordinate offices and implementing agencies in 29 States and Union Territories. Audit examination revealed that the Department attempted to implement a large number of schemes without adequate budgetary support, which resulted in dissipation of much of the efforts as well as lack of proper focus in the implementation of the schemes. The Ministry did not raise the budgetary allocation to the promised level of 10 percent of the total health plan. There were problems of management like lack of coordination between the Ministry and the regulatory and research bodies, absence of an effective monitoring and evaluation system and failure to remove different kinds of procedural hurdles. Educational institutions, hospitals and the apex research bodies suffered from poor infrastructural facilities including serious shortage of manpower even decades after they were set up. The regulatory bodies did not exercise their autonomy judiciously resulting in the Ministry curtailing their delegated authority in some cases. The quality control activities did not make any impact as the Pharmacopoeia Committees failed to finalise pharmacopoeial standards in respect of any of the compound formulations in the Ayurveda and Unani systems. Research activities undertaken by the Research Councils had not been taken up under any fixed parameters and within any specified time frame nor had research findings been disseminated for the benefit of stakeholders. Various promotional and contractual farming schemes were undertaken for increasing production of medicinal plants without any authentic database on the demand and supply position of prioritised medicinal plants. Poor supervision, monitoring and coordination among the functionaries only compounded the problems, as there was no perceptible impact on the production of medicinal plants. The Ministry did not succeed in achieving the objective of expanding the outreach of health care under AYUSH.EnglishAudit Report