SRINAGAR, FEBRUARY 11 (KNS): The Directorate of Indian System of Medicine ISM (AYUSH), Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday organized a grand seminar to commemorate celebration of World Unani Day at SKICC here.

World Unani Day is a global event taking place every year on February, 11th, which marks the birthday of great Unani scholar and social reformer “Hakim Ajmal Khan”. The main objective of the celebration is to pay tribute to the legendary Hakim Ajmal Khan for his wonderful contribution towards sustained development of Unani system of medicine in the country and rest of the world.

Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Bhupinder Kumar, was the chief guest on the occasion while Principal Government Unani Medical College Ganderbal, Kashmir, Dr Masood Tanveer, Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Mushtaq Ahmed Rather and others also participated.

The theme of this Year's World Unani Day wad “Unani Medicine for Public Health”.

In his address, Bhupinder Kumar highlighted the role of Hakeem Ajmal in development of Unani system of medicines. He said that it was due to his relentless efforts that the Unani system has gained popularity worldwide while following the principles of science and evidence.

He said that prevention of disease and promotion of health is the main aim of Unani and significant efforts are being taken up in this regard. He added that traditional system of medicines have an important role to play in management of disease burden and Ayush and Wellness Centres are going to play a pivotal role in disease prevention and health promotion.

He appreciated the work done by Directorate of Ayush and emphasised upon them to uphold highest standards of ethics so that people will have more faith in the system. This would be the best tribute to Hakeem Ajmal by adopting his teachings and taking his legacy forward, he added.

Director AYUSH, Dr Mohan Singh, while speaking on the occasion, highlighted the objectives of World Unani Day. He informed that this day is celebrated with an attempt to further promote Unani into mainstream and focus on strengths of Unani and its unique treatment principles. He stressed on reducing the burden of disease and related morbidity and mortality by utilizing the potential of Unani and exploring the potential of Unani to contribute towards National health policy and National Health programmes.

Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Parray, District Nodal officer Ayush, Pulwama, gave key note address on the theme “Unani Medicine in Public Health”. He said that the Unani System of Medicine has more realistic view of disease because it considers several factors that contribute to the origin of most diseases and puts great emphasis on lifestyle management for promotion of health, prevention and treatment of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs).(KNS)