Kochi: The four-day World Ayurveda Congress will be held in Kochi from 1 November 2002. The mega event will be organised by Swadesi Science Movement (SSM), in association with central and state governments, reputed ayuervedic agencies and NGOs, according to the organisers.

About 2,500 delegates from 100 countries - including WHO representatives, healing experts and scholars of ayurveda, sidha, unani, Tibetan medicines, acupuncture and other local health traditions - will participate in the congress. Eminent scholars in modern medicine too will take part in the congress, which has World Health and Ayurveda as its theme.

To present a historical perspective and importance of ayurveda, an exhibition-cum-demonstration will also be organised. Pre-congress workshops lasting 15 days - focusing on different subjects like panchakarma and Kerala special ayurveda treatments, yoga chikitsa and fundamentals of ayurveda - will be conducted at Thiruvanthapuram, Kochi and Kottakkal.

A committee headed by Dr P K Warrier as chairman, Dr P Shankaran Kutty as secretary-general and Dr C Suresh Kumar as chief coordinator has been set up to organise the event. The organisers say ayurveda in recent years has crossed the boundaries of the country and is being increasingly accepted by people of other races and continents. In this context it is important to evolve new methods and techniques applicable to the new users.

Formulation of continental-based healthcare packages in terms of prevention, promotion, correction and cure will be one of the attractions of the congress. Apart from this, the congress will have special sessions on different disciplines like asthagandha chikista, panchakarma, ethco-pharmacology and eco-tourism.

A special session has been organised to explore the potential values of health-related indigenous knowledge and to provide awareness about the importance of preserving indigenous knowledge, research and its utilisation to the overall development of mankind.

Addressing a press conference here, Kutty, former director of the Department of Ayurvedic Medicine, said ayurveda is not spreading in the desired directions. The possibilities of ayurveda are many, and we aim to propagate ayurveda in a scientific manner. With the onset of globaslisation, the traditional science of medicine, that is ayurveda, has become a saleable commodity, just like other goods. This has to change.

Dr S Rajasekharan of the Tropical Botanical Gardens and Research Institute, Palode, said local knowledge about ayurveda, in possession of local communities, must be collected and their potential identified. Agro-technology has to be developed for cultivating medicinal plants. The central government has set up a medicinal plant board. The ayurveda congress will discuss all about medicinal, health and food security of India, among other things.