New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has articulated an indicative national target to enable recognition of one lakh tribal healers while engaging them as community-level partners in strengthening health outreach in tribal areas, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday

Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey said that the Ministry earlier organised a national capacity-building programme for Tribal Healers at Hyderabad, Telangana, on January 16.

The aim was to engage tribal healers as community-level partners in strengthening health outreach in tribal areas in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), ICMR-RMRC BB and the Ministry of AYUSH, he said.

Uikey said that the Ministry has articulated an indicative national target to enable recognition of one lakh tribal healers. However, identification, enumeration and criteria for recognition are undertaken at the State level and through health system frameworks under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of AYUSH.

In the capacity building programme held in January, the state governments had forwarded a list of 500 tribal healers for attending the programme. Around 50 tribal healers from Maharashtra attended the programme, said the MoS.

He said the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research – Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, is working on developing structured capacity-building and sensitisation programmes for tribal healers, including training on preventive care, awareness generation, early identification and referral linkages.

The protection of indigenous tribal medical knowledge and prevention of its misuse is primarily the responsibility of state governments, which oversee documentation processes and safeguard community intellectual rights, he said.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for capacity building programmes that incorporates ethical considerations, including prior informed consent and respect for traditional knowledge systems, said a statement.

–IANS

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