From vision to model: Ayurveda’s journey of Institutionalization in Switzerland

A bstract Background: Why would a Western country with the highest standards of medicine and education opt for immense efforts to regulate and institutionalize within its healthcare system a traditional medical system that is alien to its own cultural background? In addition, in times when modern medicine has, thanks to, industrialization, technology and globalization, achieved unequalled accomplishments in the fields of diagnosis, surgery, emergency and intensive care, as well as in the treatment of communicable diseases. Objectives: This article analyses in detail the causes that led to the need for re-emergence of traditional medical systems to face global health challenges in the light of an announced global health crisis. Results and Discussion: Ayurveda as a traditional medical system has a particular role to play in the process leading to sustainable global health. While Switzerland emerges as the ideal place for a regulatory model outside India, the institutionalization process met with challenges on the path to achievements. Conclusion: Globalisation of Ayurveda as a medical system is a need for mankind. The interconnection with India and the global Ayurveda community through networking, dialogs, and standard setting is a central pillar and a necessity in the process.