PROMOTING INDIAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

Myanmar and India have been planning joint efforts for the promotion of traditional healthcare systems and medicine in both countries. Recently, in Myanmar, India proposed to set up a Joint Working Group (JWG) to promote cooperation between the two countries in teaching and researching the traditional system of medicine. A bilateral meeting was held in March 2023 in India where possibilities of cooperation in the field of traditional medicines were discussed. Later, in August, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the countries in New Delhi on cooperation in the field of traditional medicine when U Kyaw Tin, Myanmar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, was visiting India.

At the recent function in Myanmar where the JWG was proposed, as a concrete gesture to move ahead in this direction, Vinay Kumar, Indian Ambassador to Myanmar presented a set of books on the traditional medicine system to the health minister for the Library of the University of Traditional Medicine (UTM) at Mandalay. He also informed UTM faculty and students about Ayush scholarships and Fellowships available in India. Thet Khaing, Myanmar’s Health Minister, reciprocated by promising all support for furthering cooperation in traditional systems of medicine.