Nutrition is the pre-requisite of beauty. There is peaceful co-existence of Allopathy with Ayurveda, Yoga, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa in our country.Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, ShriGhulamNabi Azad said this in New Delhi today. 

Addressing the 12thConvocation of the VLCC Institute of Beauty and Nutrition,Shri Azad said we havepluralistic healthcare delivery system where the Government provides opportunity to every recognized medical system to develop and be practiced with a view to provide integrated and holistic healthcare services. We are open to patronizing best practices and proven standards for the benefit of the people. That is why Naturopathy is also a recognized system in India. State Governments like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, U.P., Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have recognized the Naturopathy system.Five State Governments such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have established Naturopathy Development Boards to impart registration to Naturopathy practitioners. There are six Government Naturopathy Hospitals; two in Kerala, two in Karnataka, one in Andhra Pradesh and one in Tamil Nadu and more than 100 Naturopathy doctors are working in Government under the NRHM scheme in different States.Besides these, 20 Naturopathy Hospitals having more than 100 beds and more than 100 having 50 to 100 beds are providing treatment facilities on private initiative. More than 200 Naturopathy Clinics are providing day care naturopathy health facilities to the patients.All these medical systems are being utilized in the national healthcare delivery system, each to its potential and availability in different parts of the country. 

Shri Azad said India incorporated traditional medicine services in the public health delivery system since 1960s when AYUSH facilities were set up under one roof in the Central Government Health Scheme dispensaries. This process of mainstreaming has been augmented under the National Rural Health Mission, with co-location of traditional medicine and homeopathy facilities in the primary health network and capacity building of AYUSH practitioners in the national programmes of Reproductive & Child Health, Safe Child Birth, School Health, Anaemia control and Malaria eradication. For mainstreaming of AYUSH under the National Rural Health Mission, grants-in-aid amounting to more than Rs 550 crores have been given to the State and UT Governments for establishment of new AYUSH facilities in 803 Primary Health Centres, 113 Community Health Centres, 24 District Hospitals and for upgradation of 379 Exclusive AYUSH hospitals and 415 Dispensaries. There are 504 AYUSH educational institutions including 111 postgraduate colleges, where about 27,000 students are admitted annually in our country. These include 16 colleges providing degree level education in Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences. India has the largest number of traditional and alternative medicine teaching institutions in the world. 

Talking about the VLCC Institute of Beauty and Nutrition,Shri Azad said this institution was established with a commitment to ensure a better quality of life for everyone by making health, beauty and fitness accessible to all sections of the society, boosting people’s confidence and following ethical and socially relevant business practices.The success in achieving this vision is clearly apparent now with 49 institutes in 35 cities, making VLCC the largest network of beauty and nutrition institutes in South Asia. Over 50,000 students nation-wide have received holistic training, both in terms of technical knowledge and practical hand-on training in diverse fields, such as Hair Designing, Media and Professional Make-up, Dietetics, Health and Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition, Sports and Fitness Nutrition, Child Care Nutrition, Cosmetology and Spa Therapies. VLCC is now recognized as a world class training institution which equips its students to meet global challenges and succeed in a globally competitive environment. The social initiatives of VLCC for training of the visually impaired members of the Blind Relief Association, collaborating with the Ministry of Women and Child Development for training of destitute and homeless women or supporting the education of challenged children are highly commendable. 

ShriAzad also distributed certificates to students who passed out from the Institute this year.