The Chief Minister's Office of Uttar Pradesh announced on Sunday, 25 May 2026 that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to expedite the establishment of integrated AYUSH colleges across five divisions — Mirzapur, Gonda, Meerut, Agra, and Basti — signalling a major push to mainstream traditional medicine in the state's public health architecture.

The Chief Minister's Office posted on X, quoting CM Yogi as instructing swift action toward setting up these institutions. He also emphasised improving OPD sevaen (outpatient services), ensuring adequate availability of medicines, and promoting traditional therapies such as Panchakarma at existing AYUSH medical institutions across the state.

Context

CM Yogi declared that an 'AYUSH-based wellness economy' would serve as a new foundation for healthcare services, investment, tourism, and employment generation in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement positions traditional medicine not merely as a health intervention but as a multi-sector economic driver. The five divisions identified span the state's eastern, western, and central belts, suggesting an intent to achieve geographic spread rather than concentrate infrastructure in urban centres.

Policy Backdrop

The directive aligns with the National AYUSH Mission, a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2014-15 to strengthen AYUSH education, services, and infrastructure across states. The National Health Policy of 2017 formally recognised AYUSH systems as integral to India's pluralistic health architecture, providing a policy basis for state-level investments of this kind. Uttar Pradesh has progressively aligned with central AYUSH policy, expanding colleges and wellness facilities as part of broader health-infrastructure goals.

The Ministry of AYUSH, established in 2014 to promote Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy, provides the institutional framework within which state governments build their own capacity. Integrated colleges — combining multiple AYUSH disciplines under one roof — represent a cost-efficient model that several states have explored to address faculty shortages and optimise infrastructure investment.

Stakeholders and Impact

The most direct beneficiaries are AYUSH students and practitioners in divisions that currently lack dedicated institutions, as well as patients in semi-urban and rural areas who rely on traditional medicine for primary care. Improved OPD services and medicine availability at existing institutions addresses a long-standing gap: AYUSH facilities have often been criticised for irregular drug supplies and limited outpatient throughput.

For wellness tourism investors, the CM's framing of an 'AYUSH-based wellness economy' signals potential public-private partnership opportunities. States such as Kerala and Karnataka have demonstrated that robust AYUSH infrastructure can attract medical tourists and generate ancillary employment in hospitality and wellness services — a model Uttar Pradesh appears to be actively benchmarking.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to state budget allocations for 2026-27 and whether the government moves toward private partnerships for wellness centres in the five identified divisions. The operationalisation of integrated colleges requires land acquisition, faculty recruitment, and regulatory clearances from the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine, making the pace of follow-through a key indicator of policy seriousness. The broader ambition of linking AYUSH to investment and employment will ultimately be tested by whether wellness infrastructure translates into measurable economic activity on the ground.