Dated November 15, 2006
The Indian Express

Having won 25 orders from ayurveda doctors and practitioners for its software - Ayusoft — Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has found global takers for it. At the recently concluded second World Ayurveda Congress, it was the turn of the US-based National Institute of Health (NIH) and multinational cosmetics giant LOreal to approach C-DAC for customisation and further product development of Ayusoft.

Representatives of NIH and LOreal have evoked keen interest in the product and want to further develop it through joint collaborations, chief investigator of the project Medha Dhurandhar said. Besides these two organisations, a Malaysian company too has shown interest in Ayusoft. We already have had six meetings with these prospective overseas clients, Dhurandhar said.

The software helps ayurveda doctors to take accurate decisions during diagnosis.

Ayusoft needs basic knowledge of ayurveda and such experts may not be available with these overseas organisations. Thus, we will discuss ways on how Ayusoft can be modified for them or the different components of the package that can find use in these organisations, Dhurandhar said.

Many ayurveda doctors who saw the product in the trial phase have also placed orders for the product. Ayusoft underwent a field trial for nine months in hospitals like KEM and Nair Hospital in Mumbai as well as many research institutes and universities.

Dhurandhar is optimistic about the commercial viability of the product. There are 6 lakh registered ayurveda practitioners and 200 colleges and universities which deals with the subject. Ayurveda is also catching up in the western countries, she said.

Ayusoft is available in a desktop, intranet and Internet versions. While the full desktop package costs Rs 12,350, the multi-user intranet version comes at a price of RS 50,000 plus licensing costs and the Internet version can be accessed from remote locations.

By: Rituparna Bhuyan