India, July 20 -- The National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur, is looking beyond healthcare to position Ayurveda as a driver of innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth. Professor Sanjeev Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of the Ministry of AYUSH's apex Ayurveda institution, believes the future lies not just in producing doctors but also Ayurveda scientists and entrepreneurs who can build industries around this ancient system of medicine. In an interview with Urvashi Dev Rawal, he speaks about Ayurveda's growing global acceptance, the need for evidence-based research and his vision for transforming Ayurveda education. Excerpts: Ayurveda and allopathy have their own strengths. Allopathy excels in emergencies, trauma, and infectious diseases using evidence-based pharmaceuticals and surgery. Ayurveda means the science of life. The emphasis on the 5000-year-old science is not only to treat illnesses but to guide the individual how to live a healthier life. Our body is connected to nature. We have to be in sync with the seasonal and diurnal cycles to live a healthy life. So, Ayurveda promotes overall health. Today, people are struggling with physical and mental health issues. Ayurveda with its basic principle of holistic healing approaches wellness by treating the entire individual, rather than just managing isolated symptoms. However, today's lifestyle challenges are very different from ancient times. So, the Ayurveda fraternity has to do research for new techniques in line with today's lifestyle without compromising on the fundamental principles. The challenges are at two levels - physical and mental. At the physical level, the incidence of lifestyle diseases like cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity, PCOD, infertility, is rising. Mental health issues are also increasing. Ayurveda advocates aligning one's daily routine and diet with the rhythms of nature. By doing this, one can restore internal harmony, prevent illness, and promote long-term vitality. So, if we follow our ancient system of healing, we can have a significant impact not only on prevention also reversal of diseases. A university's real strength is the training that we provide to our students. Our foreign students are very enthusiastic and dedicated. Our Indian students should think out of the box and create industries around Ayurveda. We don't want to create only job seekers. We have to produce Ayurveda practitioners, Ayurveda scientists and Ayurveda entrepreneurs. There are many fields that Ayurveda entrepreneurs can take up such as herbal farming, beauty and wellness, diet and dietetics and sports medicine. Development of Ayurveda will boost the economy of the country and add to the government's vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. We have a daily average patient footfall of around 1,600. We have both OPD and IPD services. More than 300 types of medicines are prepared in our lab and are dispensed free of cost to patients. Our hospital has 280 beds and is NABH accredited. We have a state-of-the-art Panchakarma Centre where we perform approximately 500 procedures daily. We have modern operation theatres, a pharmacy and a Pathology laboratory. We have a 20-bed hospital in Kishanpol and OPD services in 5 hospitals NIA also has a 250-bed off-campus facility in Panchkula. We have different mandates like patient care, academics, and research. As far as academics is concerned, we have a state-of-the-art simulation laboratory, a virtual reality lab, an experimental and a clinical laboratory. The clinical lab is for patients while the experimental lab is for research purposes. For Ayurveda to flourish, we need to have a scientific basis and that is what we are trying to create through our research. We have to talk to the world in a scientific language so we are trying to create an evidence base to validate practices mentioned in ancient Ayurveda texts....