Centre grants Rs. 30 lakh under NRHM to promote Ayush Pushti biscuits to tackle malnutrition in children

The Union government has chipped in a financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 30 lakh to support the Karnataka government’s novel Ayush Pushti biscuits pilot project. The Ayush Pushti biscuits containing 15 Ayurvedic herbal ingredients is seen as a paradigm shift in the herbal medicine space to tackle malnutrition among children. The orange flavoured Ayush Pushti biscuits contain green gram dhal, groundnut, ragi and wheat. The orange flavoured content constitutes 40 per cent, 30 per cent is sugar, 20 per cent ghee and 10 per cent ayurvedic medicinal ingredients such as brahmi, ashwagandha vacha, guduchi, pippali, ghrita, amalaki and elakki. Under the pilot project initiative, the state government has chalked out plans to distribute the Ayush Pushti biscuits among 3,000 children in the age-group of three to six years in various Anganwadi areas in north Karnataka covering Jamakhandi, in Bagalkot district and Bijapur on a pilot basis. Initially, the children will be given 10 ml of Ayush syrup of Vidanga Haritaki Pippali to enhance digestion and absorption after which one two Ayush Pushti will be given for the three to four year old children. Four biscuits will be given to those in the four to six age-group for 90 days. “We have also delegated 200 doctors including pediatricians and 150 Anganwadi teachers to ensure they observe and record the basic health parameters like weight and height of children every fortnight. After a three-month assessment, the scheme will be extended to other parts of the state. The project is targeted to enhance the immunity, digestion, concentration and sleep pattern in children,” Karnataka minister for health and family welfare UT Khader told Pharmabiz. A team of paediatricians who are part of the Ayush technical committee have given their consensus on the formulation in terms of palatability and medicinal value. The department had an ethics committee which cleared the clinical trials for toxicity and safety. The human studies were conducted on 90 children from Bengaluru and Ramanagarm districts. The documented evidence indicated considerable improvement in the health of children who gained an average weight of 800 grams to one kg in one month. It is for the first time that the department of ayush has embarked on such an initiative in the country. The biscuits are being manufactured at the Government Central Pharmacy in Bangalore with a shelf-life of six months. The State government was planning to make the biscuits available in the market if the scheme succeeds. While the biscuits are currently made available to children free of cost, the state government was keen to  explore commercialization of the Ayush Pushti biscuits which could be marketed across the state to have a wider reach, stated health minister Khader. This pilot project would be closely monitored to help the government to assess the feasibility, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the scheme and its expansion across the 30 districts in the State, pointed out principal secretary to Karnataka Health and Family Welfare department M Madan Gopal. The state government estimates that 12 lakh children below the age six years are malnourished, out of which 47,000 are suffering from severe malnourishment. Source:Pharmabiz