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| CONFERENCE REPORT |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 35
| Issue : 3 | Page : 186-188 |
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Kalpanabodhini 2015: A wonderful learning experience
Deepa Shankar Thamal
Department of Rasashastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, YMT Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| Date of Web Publication | 8-Apr-2016 |
Correspondence Address:
Deepa Shankar Thamal
C-45-n-10, Mahatma Gandhi Complex, Amarjyoti Society, Sector 14, Vashi, Navi Mumbai - 400 703, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0257-7941.179867
How to cite this article:
Thamal DS. Kalpanabodhini 2015: A wonderful learning experience. Ancient Sci Life 2016;35:186-8 |
Kalpanabodhini 2015 organized by AVP was a National Training Programme on Bhaişajya Kalpanā. Nothing is so enthralling to a student as getting to learn many new topics from the experts in their fields. The students who attended came from various disciplines, varied work experiences but all had one thing in common, viz. passion for Ayurveda and getting to grasp all the new as well as the classical aspects of Ayurveda.
”Kalpanabodhini” began on 19 Aug 2015 on the auspicious day of Nāgapañcamī. Around 60 delegates [Figure 1] from across the country came together for the programme. The day started out after the auspicious Ganapati pooja. The programme was inaugurated by Svami Nirmalananda Giri with lighting of the ceremonial lamp with prayers to Bhagavān Dhanvantari.
The first session was addressed by the chief guest Svami Nirmalananda Giri. The depth of his knowledge regarding śāstras and Ayurveda was mesmerizing. He explained as to how sarpagandhā along with vaca has a potent role in bāla unmād. When sarpagandhā is taken as a single drug alone, it could cause suicidal tendencies, but on its combination with vaca it acts effectively and could also be used in autistic children. This session was also addressed by Shri Krishnakumar.
The first session of the first day was by Dr. Sheela Karlem on the practical approach to different bhaişajyakalpanā preparations. She explained in detail about the development through different phases of bhaişajya kalpanā, its applications in pharmaceutical medicine manufacturing, pharmacotherapeutics and pharmaceutical research. Topics such as the critical control points, R and D, single drug formulations; industrial M's which are Man, Machine, Material, Money, Method, Mindset; waste product management. The second session of the day was handled by Dr. Prabhukumar K M on drug identification and its importance. Where topics such as: Checklist, floras and their importance and ICNCP were explained. The practical session of the day consisted of a practical demonstration and explanation of a Taila preparation at large scale. This was followed by a session conducted by Dr. Shaju Thomas who delved on the need of small scale production in Ayurveda. Topics covered by him included: R and D in Ayurveda, advantages of small scale production, documents for manufacturing license, clinical research, process related research, and medicinal plant research. There was a guest lecture by Dr. Gopakumar who shared his experiences in the field of Ayurveda. He elaborated many of the cases handled by him, specially the difficult cases and inspired the crowd to practice Ayurveda with confidence.
The second day began with a lecture about the role of industrial technology in Ayurvedic drug preparations by Dr. T S Muraleedharan. He explained the correlation between fermentation – asava, arişṃa, metallurgy – rasaushadhis; distillation – arka etc., He also took up topics such as: Classical formulations, modern formulations, raw material management, drug processing; product and quality assurance, drug presentation, drug development, research/innovation, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. He also explained to us about instruments and their uses. This was followed by a session about the world scenario of Ayurveda and its future which was chaired by Dr. Indulal. He explained as to how people are involved in the global spread of Ayurveda. He was of the opinion that “globalization of herbs or herbalization of the globe” to be the need of the hour. The practical session of the day involved the explanation of kvātha preparation at industrial level, the various factors influencing it etc. There was also a quiz competition on kaşāya preparation. The third session of the day consisted of a lecture by Dr. Sasikumar Nechiyal on the need of rasauşadhis. He explained in detail about the different rasauşadhis and their mention in scientific journals along with their administration in different diseases. He also mentioned about food, drugs, and toxins. Dr. Krishnakumar addressed the delegates in this session where he explained about his journey in the field of Ayurveda and his experience in taking it to a global level and the hurdles and obstacles he faced in the journey.
The third day started with a session about medicinal plant cultivation and its importance by Dr. Rajamani. Details regarding how to go about cultivating plants, the commercially important plants, factors to be taken into consideration during cultivation etc., were explained. This was followed by a session on herbal drug adulteration by Dr. Indira Balachandran. She explained in detail about: The various Ayurvedic plants, how traders are involved in adulteration, points to be borne in mind while selecting these herbals; standardization of plant drug and the parameters such as authentication, foreign matter, organoleptic studies, macroscopy, microscopy, ash value, extractive value, chromatographic value, marker component, pesticide resistance, microbial count, radioactive contaminants etc., were explained and so were standardization methods involving different parameters such as taxonomic, anatomical and phytochemical. The practical session involved the preparation of an avaleha. The last session for the day was a discussion about the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, GMP, manufacturing license, loan license, the various schedules pertaining to the same etc., This was conducted by Dr. Shahjahan. He explained in detail about the triangle involving Doctor, Diagnosis, Drug.
The first session of the fourth day was about the role of herbal cosmetics and their preparation by Dr. Ajay George Varghese. The session contained detailed explantion of nutraceuticals, functional foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics and their preparations and contents, how they could be harmful etc. These studies were explained with various interesting examples. This was followed by a presentation and discussion on herbal mapping by Dr. Suma Tagadur. She explained about plant diversity, various plants of medicinal value found across the country and the work that her organization, FRLHT is carrying out in the field of herbal mapping. The practical session of the day was preparation of asava. This was followed by a session about the importance of QA and QC in Ayurvedic Pharmacy which was conducted by Dr. Sindhu A. Using the example of Sukumāra yogam, she explained to the delegates about various aspects of QC such as: Inspecting, testing, checking of raw materials, main aspects involving raw material, in process, finished goods and packaging etc.
The fifth day started with a discussion about modern pharmacy plan by Dr. Jayakumar where he explained about modern drug dosage forms, details about the various instruments involved in the preparation, oral dosage forms, topical, capsules, ointments and cGMP according to WHO guidelines. This was followed by a discussion about food adulteration by Ramesh Chandran and Sreedevi Ramesh. The topics discussed included: Food safety, how pesticides are involved in foods, thickening agents, harmful effects of processed foods, importance of organic food. The practical session of the day involved gulikā, vaṃi preparation.
Understanding of machinery was the first discussion of the sixth day conducted by Dr. Joy Varghese. He explained about the different machinery involved in Ayurvedic Pharmacy, the importance of process validation for uniform product manufacturing and superfliud extraction technology. The next session was about filling packing and labeling of medicines by Shashidharan Pillai where he elaborated about different machinery such as automatic capsule filler, fluid bed dryer, rapid mixer granulator etc., This was followed by a session on the need of marketing by Dr. Ragesh D Charan. He explained in detail as to how marketing is of great importance and explained the different methods. The practical session involved a visit to the packaging and labeling section. There was a guest lecture by Dr. Ram Manohar in which he explained in detail about the important terms in the context of yukti, shraddhā, and tapas. He stressed on those areas of Ayurveda which may be taken up for research. He also stressed the importance of yukti based cikitsā for new research.
The final day's first session had a lecture about the importance of bank and other needs for starting a pharmacy by Sri R Ganesh. He explained how to start a pharmacy and how funds play a major role. He also explained about the different schemes such as the unnatī scheme etc., The second session of the day was about the rules, regulation, licensing to start a pharmacy which was handled by SS Krishna Varier. He gave a detailed explanation on how to start a pharmacy, the rules and regulations, the list of documents required to be submitted to the government etc. The practical session of the day was spent in the QA and QC department.
All sessions used to start with lectures and end with interesting and thought provoking interactions with the experts. The programme also proved to be a platform for the delegates to develop soft skills and work as a team. Many of the delegates came from academic backgrounds and it was refreshing to them be exposed into practical realities. Inspite of the participants having come from diverse backgrounds, they felt the Dhanvantari Homa conducted as part Kalpanabodhini, a well organized and executed programme a spiritual finishing touch.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
[Figure 1]
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