Professor Clement Sankat, pro vice-chancellor and campus principal of The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine Campus, and the director of Institutional Advancement and Internationalisation, Sharan C Singh, are currently in India on a ten-day mission in partnership with the delegation led by the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar comprising other tertiary institutions, public and private organisations with interests in Indian partnerships. The purpose of this mission is for the regional UWI to deepen and strengthen the institution’s collaboration with Indian higher education institutions to build capacity and enhance competitiveness. The UWI team recently completed three intensive days of meetings in New Delhi with some of India’s leading universities and research institutions, including the world famous Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi), the Indira Gandhi National Open University (India’s largest open university), Jawaharlal Nehru University, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (India’s premier medical school), the National University of Education Planning and Administration, The Energy Resource Institute (a leading alternative energy research and training institution), the Agricultural Scientists Research Board and the Shriram Institute (the country’s leading industrial research institute).
The meetings in New Delhi produced a number of tangible positive outcomes, such as the setting up of demonstration laboratories at The UWI in the near future, and the three days culminated with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of India through its Department of AYUSH on January 6 for provision of a Professor in Ayurveda to The UWI. The signing took place at New Delhi’s famous Hyderabad House, which hosts most visiting Heads of State to India, and was done in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, government ministers and other senior officials from both countries. This agreement falls under the umbrella of a government-to-government agreement for provision of technical assistance between both countries and results from months of negotiation involving the Indian High Commission in Trinidad, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, The UWI and related agencies. AYUSH is the governing body for Ayurveda under India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Institute of Ayurveda is India’s most prestigious Ayurveda institute. The provision of this Chair in Ayurveda to The UWI comes under a programme where the Government of India provides expertise and technical assistance to countries around the world to conduct research and training in this 4,000-year-old discipline of holistic medicine.
According to 2010 figures from the Department of AYUSH in India, there are approximately 478,750 registered Ayurveda practitioners and 2,458 hospitals with 44,820 beds. In terms of the educational aspect of the industry, there are approximately 256 Ayurveda colleges and 66 postgraduate colleges, with the National Institute of Ayurveda in Jaipur being the apex body amongst them. What is most interesting, however, is the vast commercial enterprise that supports India’s massive Ayurveda system. Ayurveda products can be found in almost every pharmacy, grocery and parlour, from large commercial cities to small remote villages. The historical and contemporary experience of India demonstrates the distinct possibilities for the commercialisation of natural products from the Caribbean, especially given the rich tropical plant diversity in the region and its location as a gateway to North, Central and South America where natural remedies are increasingly in high demand, especially with respect to addressing lifestyle diseases, many of which currently also challenge the population of the Caribbean. Following the signing of the MoU, Persad-Bissessar took the opportunity of being in Jaipur, where she is being honoured at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to visit the National Institute of Ayurveda. Accompanying her were various Ministers, including the Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, Fazal Karim, and the UWI team. During the visit, the Joint Secretary of AYUSH and the director of the Institute provided an enlightened perspective on the discipline, the global industry and opportunities for the Caribbean. A comprehensive tour of the Campus, which includes a 500-bed teaching hospital for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching was conducted. Facilities also included the national repository for natural products, a manufacturing facility and a field station for the propagation of medicinal plants.
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