Under its new constitutional article passed in May 2009, Switzerland has become the first western country to enshrine in its Constitution the recognition of traditional and complementary medicine. The Swiss Ayurveda community has taken up the tedious task to regulate Ayurveda under the new legal provisions, and hence Switzerland plays a major pioneering role in the globalization of Ayurveda as a medical system.
From 2009, at the instigation of Dr Simone Hunziker, medical and academic director of SAMA, President of the Swiss Association of Ayurvedic Practitioners and Therapists (ASMTA), and later on Founding President of the Indo-Swiss Ayurveda Foundation (ISA), the three bodies have embraced that cause and committed themselves to contributing to the promotion of authentic traditional and high-quality Ayurveda. In the process, SAMA and ISA have been working with internationally-recognized partner institutions in India, and in cooperation with the Indian government.
In 2009, the international working groups for Ayurveda (IWGA) were set up at the first Meeting with International Ayurveda Delegates, held by the Indian government at New Delhi under AYUSH (Ministry for Indian systems of medicine), in order to define a roadmap and standards for the global spread of Ayurveda. AYUSH appointed Dr Hunziker from Switzerland as the sole representative of European countries to the steering committee.
The same year, SAMA was the first private foreign institution to sign a contract with Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS) under the Ministry of AYUSH with AVP in Coimbatore as the third partner. This led to the creation of the first global database for scientific research in Ayurveda, (DHARA), for articles already published in scientific journals.
The bilingual association with members all over Switzerland, ASMTA, was one of central Europe’s most lively professional ayurvedic associations, when between 2009 and 2015, along with the other Swiss Ayurvedic association (Schweiz. Verband für Maharishi Ayurveda), its board members have worked for Ayurveda to be regulated for the new professions towards the Federal Diplomas of Practitioner in Ayurveda medicine and of Ayurveda Therapist. These new professions require candidates to pass higher professional exams for federal diplomas under the aegis of the State Secretariat for training, research and innovation (SEFRI, previously the OFFT).
First lectures on Ayurveda in a Swiss faculty of medicine were given from 2012 in Lausanne, where Dr Hunziker was invited as a guest lecturer for the introductory courses on Ayurveda, as part of the regular syllabus of medical undergraduates, under the auspices of the Institute for Research and Development in Complementary Medicine of the CHUV (University Hospital Centre Vaud).
In 2013, the Indo-Swiss Ayurveda Foundation (ISA) was created as a non-profit Foundation with international objectives under Swiss law, headquartered in Geneva. Its founding members, who collaborated since 2009, included distinguished personalities in ayurvedic and Western medicine, former Swiss and Indian senior diplomats, and people active in professional policy-making in the two countries. The Foundation promotes Ayurveda as a medical system in the West. It sees itself as a much-needed inter-cultural bridge for the preservation of ayurvedic knowledge in the process of its transfer and its adaptation to local realities and needs.
In 2014 respectively 2015 the regulations of Ayurveda Therapy and of Ayurveda Medicine were approved and the two disciplines got officially recognized by the Swiss authorities for the respective Federal Diploma.
In 2016 the Swiss Support Organization for Ayurveda was created.
At the same period the Swiss Law on Therapeutic Products got revised as per the new constitutional article, in order to ease the access of traditional medicines on the Swiss market. The new edition of the law got sanctioned in 2019.
From 2018, the Swiss Support Organization for Ayurveda worked with Swissmedic (Swiss FDA) towards the constitution of a list of plants to be registered as therapeutic products. The finalized official request was submitted in 2018 and finalized in early 2021. Thereafter, Swissmedic entered collaboration with the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission. In 2023 former recognized the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (API) and the Ayurvedic Formulary of India (AFI) as references. The first 41 plants got registered as therapeutic products on the TAS list in July 2023 (TAS standing for Traditional Asian Substances).
By 2023 Switzerland remains the only western country having enshrined in its constitution the recognition of traditional and complementary medicine, having government recognized diploma under newly created professions that are reimbursed and having access to Ayurveda products in the form of reimbursed therapeutic products.
Starting in 2009, the international ayurvedic community has been participating in regular meetings with Indian Ayurveda representatives and the Indian government. Under the guidance of AYUSH department of the Indian Public Health Ministry, international working groups have worked on fundamental topics such as education, promotion, clinical practice, scientific research, quality assurance with regard to pharmaceutical production, legislation and international trade regulations.
In 2010 WHO published the benchmarks for training in Ayurveda.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has from 2018 entered active collaboration with WHO to promote Ayurveda as a medical system worldwide.
In 2018 and 2019 were held in India the two historic WHO Working Group Meetings with international Ayurveda Experts for editing the benchmarks for clinical practice in Ayurveda in Jaipur, respectively for up-dating the benchmarks of training in Ayurveda in Jamnagar. The official documents were published early 2022.
At the same period got published the International Standard Terminologies for Ayurveda and were edited the International Classification of Diseases for Ayurveda.
In 2022 opened the WHO Global center for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.
In addition to Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Mauritius, also Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Switzerland, Cuba, Brazil and Tanzania recognize Ayurveda as a traditional medical system. Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Latvia and Slovenia are five European Union countries that have regulated Ayurvedic practice1.
With the recent developments at WHO and the promotional work of the Indian government, also as a reply to a deer need with regards to global public health issues, various other countries are on their way to recognize Ayurveda as a medical system and create the needed provisions for the implementation.
1 Press Information Bureau (PIB) Delhi, 30 July 2021