President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu inaugurates 'Saushrutam 2026'

New Delhi (Raghwendra Pratap Singh) : The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, today inaugurated Saushrutam 2026, a three-day international seminar on Ayurvedic surgery, at the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi. The seminar is being organised by AIIA under the Ministry of Ayush on the occasion of Sushruta Jayanti and has brought together eminent surgeons, researchers, academicians and policymakers from India and abroad.

On the occasion, the President inaugurated a state-of-the-art AI-enabled 3 Tesla High-Field MRI facility at AIIA and witnessed the release of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) study titled Evaluation of Professional Career of Ayurveda Female Graduates – An Observational Exploratory Study.

Addressing the gathering, the President said Acharya Sushruta's pioneering contributions laid the foundation of scientific and systematic surgical practices in the world and that Ayurveda's holistic approach to health continues to hold relevance in modern healthcare. She said preserving biodiversity is essential for the sustainable growth of Ayurveda and stressed the need to ensure the availability of medicinal plants while strengthening traditional knowledge through scientific validation.

The President called for greater participation of women in the Ayurveda workforce and urged collective efforts to address the challenges women professionals face in building long-term careers. Commending the Ministry of Ayush for promoting Ayurveda globally, she said the integration of traditional knowledge with advanced technologies, modern diagnostics and scientific research is expanding the scope and credibility of the system. She expressed confidence that initiatives such as Saushrutam 2026 would further strengthen evidence-based practice and enhance the global acceptance of Ayurveda.

The newly inaugurated AI-enabled 3 Tesla High-Field MRI facility will significantly strengthen diagnostic services at AIIA, facilitate integrative research between Ayurveda and modern medicine, and provide affordable, high-quality imaging services to patients.

About Saushrutam 2026:

The three-day international seminar has drawn experts from Thailand, Israel, Austria, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal and Greece, besides India. Its scientific programme features keynote lectures, panel discussions, workshops and technical sessions on Shalya Tantra, Kshara Sutra, Agnikarma, reconstructive surgery, integrative oncology and other emerging areas of research. Saushrutam 2026 seeks to promote evidence-based dialogue, foster innovation and strengthen global collaboration for advancing Ayurvedic surgical sciences.