Kathmandu:

Established solely for serving Royal clans and Prime Ministers until 1950, Singhadurbar Vaidhakhana Development Board despite its long history of three hundred and sixty years still looks for better days ahead. Reportedly called ‘Vaidhya Khana’ under the reign of Pratap Malla at Basantapur, it has shifted with the passage of time to two different locations: Thapathali and Anamnagar. It got its present name and shape only after 1994, with the task to promote and supply maximum ayurvedic products at home and abroad.

Vaidhyakhana produces around hundred and sixty different ayurvedic medicines under three different categories: fermented, powdered and tablets, and mercurial. The raw materials for the ayurvedic medicines that are manufactured at Vaidhyakhana are bought from various trading houses across the country. After the medicines are manufactured, they are distributed through different ayurvedic outlets spread across the country. Furthermore, Department of Ayurveda also distributes the medicines to its branch offices in various parts of the country for free. Most of the financing for the Vaidhyakhana comes from the money generated from the sold products. At a time when ayurvedic medicines are gaining popularity as an effective way of treatment, the company still seems wallowing in the traditional mode of operation. “We still lack modern technology to boost our production,” Lamsal says. Also, proper mechanism to understand the dynamics of production and market seems inefficient. He however agrees that it is their duty to work regarding this, and that “efforts are on to have regularity in production and promote the products”.

The government gives some grants to the company, but according to Lamsal, it has not prioritised their case despite reassurances. “There hardly seems to be a clear-cut vision or action plan regarding this,” he explains. “We have got some good response this year for some of our products. For instance, sales of Chawanprash have doubled from that of last year. So we wish to move ahead promisingly.

Furthermore, training programmes for out staffers are in the offing to help them gain more exposure to the modern way of working, and also hone their skills. We are also working towards introducing modern ways of doing things in our company, and trying to catch the attention of various I-NGOs for grants,” he says.