A herbal health kit developed by the Tropical Botanical Gardens and Research Institute (TBGRI) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, might be introduced in the public health system if the kit, based on local herbs, is found to yield positive results. The development of the kit is also a landmark instance as, under the property rights umbrella, 15 per cent of the profits accruing from the patent and royalties will go to the Kaani tribals, who imparted the secret of their traditional medicine for the kit.
The kit has been designed in accordance to WHO specifications by the ethnomedicine division of the TBGRI to tackle common ailments like diarrhoea, dysentery, cuts, cold, headache, inflammation and burns. TBGRI director P Pushpangadhan says that the kit was part of the institute's efforts to popularise traditional medicine and tap the abundant local herbal resources. He said that attention is being paid to increasing the shelf life of the medicines and reducing the contraindications.
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