A SILVER STORY OF IRIIM … GOLD TO FOLLOW

UGC VISITING PROFESSOR, JNV UNIVERSITY, JODHPUR, RAJASTHAN
PRESIDENT, WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR VEDIC STUDIES, JODHPUR-BIKANER CHAPTER
MEMBER, RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD,
INDIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRATED MEDICINE (IRIIM)
FORMER DIRECTOR, MATERIALS, DRDO  HQ., MOD, GOI, NEW DELHI AND
FORMER DIRECTOR, DEFENCE LABORATORY, JODHPUR

On this occasion of its Silver Jubilee, the Indian Research Institute for Integrated Medicine can most certainly look back on its long years of distinguished service to the society with legitimate pride and to the satisfaction of late Dwarkanath Kotnis, Dr. B. K. Basu and other dedicated members of Dr Kotnis Memorial Mission and Manoranjan Ganguly. From a humble beginning in the suburb of Howrah at the foothills of Mourigram railway station, the institute grew from two rooms set to its status as a Center of Excellence for research and training in Acupuncture – Moxibustion in combination with Yoga-Naturopathy under dynamic leadership of Dr D. Bakshi and his dedicated team.

Over the decades, the institute has investigated all major health care management problems and developed a ‘Drug Deaddiction – cum – Rehabilitation Center’ under the programme PRATAYA (confidence) optimally utilizing the blend of Acupuncture-Yoga-Naturopathy and Psychological Counseling. This deaddiction programme, the first of this kind in Howrah district of West Bengal, started with a 15 bed in-house (indoor) facility in the year 1993 with partial sponsorship of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt of India, has treated more than 5000 addicts and created awareness to thousands of people through health camps, seminars, workshops, invited lectures, exhibitions etc in different parts of our country and participation in International Conferences abroad.

The continuous R&D activities undertaken at IRIIM have brought recognition as Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (SIRO) from Department of Scientist & Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India and from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare GoI, Department of Information Technology, GoI: Indian Council of Medical research, Department of Defense Research and Development, GoI, Govt of West Bengal and others through sanctioned projects and interactive programmes. The break through research is development of ‘Traditional Tongue based Diagnostic Technique’. Using diagnostic software and large image data bases one can relate the tongue features to the disease conditions like hypertension, epigastria pain and gastro-intestinal disorders specially diarrhoea, dysentery and other diseases, which affect a large percentage of our population. This R & D activity developed at IRIIM has attracted many research scientists from different medical and non-medical streams including technologists from National Institutes like IIT, Kharagpur, ICMR, DRDO and Rajasthan Ayurved University. Scientists from other countries like US, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangladesh have appreciated our work. The experts trained at our institute are actively engaged in India, Neighbouring countries and American research centers. Institutes besides providing training to Medicos, Health workers and NGO`s on Acupuncture – Moxibustion for different courses also give consultancy on Alternative & Traditional Systems of Medicine (ATSM). IRIIM has coordinated the efforts of ATSM practitioners in different states for creation of Central Council for Research in Alternative and Traditional System of Medicine (CCRATSM) like those functional under department of AYUSH under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI.

Twenty-five years is not long in the life on an Institute especially when it is dedicated to making the society self-reliant in such a challenging area of Alternative and Traditional System of Medicine.

During my association with IRIIM over a decade, I have seen the institute growing strength-to-strength maintaining ethics and moral values. IRIIM is conscious of its past achievements, present responsibilities and future commitments and once again dedicates itself to the service of society to attain holistic health of Indian Golden Age.

Under future commitments IRIIM plans to continue three fold activities: -

(i) Expansion of present ATSM activities in IRIIM campus and outside by establishing sub – centers in the country including issue of IRIIM News Letter,

(ii) Development of ATSM packages based on successfully completed projects and case studies for adoption by IRIIM sub - centers and others and

(iii) New R&D projects to study forthcoming challenges in health sector and to control current epidemics as per National and WHO goals by extending interactive programmes with S&T institutions

IRIIM has grown with meager resources but with whole-hearted support of its dedicated staff, donors, well wishers like trainees and beneficiaries and Government funding agencies. To fulfill above objective and speedy growth we solicit your substantial support in expansion of IRIIM Bhawan - Hospitals, laboratories, indoor-wards, instrumentation, patient recreation facility etc. I appeal to donate freely for this noble cause. Specialist medicos, senior scientists and clinicians of ATSM area particularly senior citizens are requested to join and guide us to serve the suffering humanity. We have planned to house above experts in IRIIM campus by constructing suitable apartments supported by donations.

Looking forward for your kind blessings and all out support to meet our golden goal.

* Address:
Prof (Dr.) Ram Gopal,
A-66 Krishna Nagar,
New Pali Road, Basni,
Jodhpur-342 005. (Rajasthan)
Tel. 0291-2726675.
e-mail: drramgopal@sify.com