BIMSTEC traditional medicine centre to come up at ITRA Jamnagar, Nadda says

India will host a BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence in Traditional Medicine at the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) in Jamnagar, Gujarat, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda announced at the first BIMSTEC Health Ministers' Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Wednesday, 11 November 2026. The Ministry of External Affairs said all member states had agreed to set up the centre, which is meant to support joint research, training and the exchange of knowledge on traditional medicine. The meeting, chaired by Sri Lanka's Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa, adopted a Joint Ministerial Statement and a Revised BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Public Health for 2026 to 2030.

BIMSTEC, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, is a regional grouping of seven countries. Member countries have their own traditions of medicine, such as Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani in India and indigenous medicine in Sri Lanka. A centre for the whole grouping gives one place where researchers and practitioners from member countries can work on shared questions, such as how to test the safety and quality of herbal medicines, how to train practitioners to common standards, and how to document traditional knowledge.

Placing the centre at ITRA strengthens Jamnagar's role in this field. ITRA is an Ayurveda teaching and research institute under India's Ministry of Ayush. Reports of the meeting did not say how the new BIMSTEC centre will relate to other traditional-medicine bodies in the city, how it will be funded, or when it will start work. Those details will decide how much research actually comes out of it.

For readers, the important distinction is between cooperation and evidence. A regional centre is a structure for research and training; it does not by itself prove that any traditional treatment works. Its value will lie in whether it produces careful studies, shared quality standards and trained people, so that what patients receive under the name of traditional medicine is safe and honestly described.

India also used the meeting to present its public health programmes. Nadda spoke about Ayushman Bharat, the government's health insurance and primary care scheme, digital health and the eSanjeevani telemedicine service, and called for cooperation on health security, pandemic preparedness, the One Health approach that links human, animal and environmental health, and traditional medicine.

Peepals timeline: 11 November 2026, the first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC health ministers in Colombo agrees on a Centre of Excellence in Traditional Medicine at ITRA, Jamnagar, and adopts a public health plan running from 2026 to 2030; the next step named at the meeting is a meeting of the BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine, which India has offered to host. No date for it has been announced.

Short-term: The agreement gives ITRA a regional role, and India will prepare to host the next meeting of the BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine.

Long-term: If the centre is staffed and funded, researchers and practitioners from member countries could run joint studies, share training and work towards common quality standards for traditional medicines.

Who is affected: Ayurveda and other traditional-medicine researchers, students and practitioners in BIMSTEC countries, ITRA Jamnagar, and patients who use traditional medicine across the region.

What to watch next: the meeting of the BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine that India has offered to host, and details of how the Jamnagar centre will be set up.

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