London told the six-member delegation “Over the years we’ve had tentative suggestions especially from people who have been willing to go into the rain forest but it has never been crystallized. The THA was therefore very interested in the offer to identify medicinal plants and for training and research in the area.”
The news of Tobago’s wealthy medicinal plant supply was spreading. Secretary of the Department of Ayurveda Anil Kumar and delegation head confirmed he was told that there were a large number of medicinal plants in Tobago. He believed that his Department could provide much assistance to Tobago because India’s traditional medicine systems were over 5,000 years old. Kumar said the system was codified and very well documented over the years.
The Government had set up a research council for each of the five legally recognised systems of medicine – Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
AYUSH falls under India’s Ministry of Health and Family Medicine.
Within recent years, the THA has partnered with the Government of India on a number of initiatives including training and entrepreneurship. High Commissioner of India to this country His Excellency Malay Mishra, who accompanied the delegation, saw this visit as an opportunity for even closer bi-lateral ties with Tobago.
The group planned to host a seminar and two workshops while in Trinidad and Tobago.