Healthcare major Apollo Hospitals has formed a special team for conducting research on alternative systems of medicine, including ayurveda, unani, siddha and homeopathy, in its attempt to become a holistic healthcare provider.

Separately, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise on Friday reported a sharp jump in its net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 to R55.76 crore compared to R49.55 crore during the same quarter last financial year. The total income increased from R593.24 crore to R706.70 crore during the quarter under review, the company said.

Talking to FE, Sangita Reddy, executive director (operations), Apollo Group, said that the special group is now functional in Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi hospitals, working on various disease profiles ?We are thinking of comparative research to bring in a holistic approach for integrating various systems of medicine. The teams are already working for the last three years on certain molecules in the Ayurvedic system and we hope to get some leads in the next two years,? she said.

Apollo is carrying carry out research activities through its arm, Apollo Hospitals Education and Research Foundation (AHERF), with a special focus on chronic diseases.

?There is still a long way to go for the integration to happen, but the work has begun. Also, marketing of herbs and herbal-based products requires a lot of scientific approach to get the right standardisation processes,? she said.

With increasing healthcare costs, alternative therapies are seeing a lot of demand both in domestic and international markets. While accepting to bringing in a holistic approach in traditional medicines is a big challenge, Pratap C Reddy, chairman of the Apollo Hospitals group, said it will be quite beneficial and could fuel growth for medical tourism, which has a market opportunity of R1,500 crore. ?Many foreign patients of Apollo are showing interest towards alternative therapies and we have set up an ayurveda centre that provides outpatient consultation and treatment therapies for a range of conditions,? Reddy said.

Incidentally, it has been reported that 60% of registered physicians are involved in non-allopathic systems of medicine in the country. A scientific study on ayurveda and other systems of medicine will help in scientific validation for alternative treatments, he added.

Validation and standardisation of the traditional systems of Indian medicines is vital to demonstrate their quality and enable their entry into the global market. Integrating different systems of medicine will increase the usage as they are affordable.

Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) is planning an initiative to validate the ayurvedic system of medicine to meet the standardisation challenges. According to Pharmexcil officials, it has constituted a 16-member panel that will be working to scientifically prove the traditional knowledge of the country.