Child healing redefined: Goa institute combines Ayurveda, yoga and modern care

Children with neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders can benefit from the integration of Ayurveda, yoga, and modern therapies, a senior official from the All India Institute of Ayurveda, Goa, said on Saturday. The institute launched in November 2025 the PRAYAS centre, a first-of-its-kind facility, which uses a combination of the three pathways to provide coordinated rehabilitation services and improve the quality of affected children's lives, the official said. Since its launch, the integrated paediatric neuro-rehabilitation centre has benefited 574 patients through the dedicated neuro-muscular and neuro-behavioural OPD, and extended integrated care to 176 children through IPD services, the institute said.

"PRAYAS is a beacon of hope for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, integrating Ayurveda's holistic principles with multidisciplinary therapies to foster remarkable improvements in their quality of life. "We are determined to take this model to more families all over India by leveraging our institute's commitment to innovative and compassionate care, "

Dr Sujata Kadam, Dean (Academic and Administration) at the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) Goa, stated.

A three, year, old boy with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy was treated at the PRAYAS centre. The mother of the child said, "Initially, my son couldn't even stand or walk by himself. After his treatment at PRAYAS, there has been a remarkable change and my child is now able to walk without any support."

Encouraging clinical outcomes have been observed in this case, Dr Rahul Ghuse, Assistant Professor, Department of Kaumarbhritya (Ayurved Pediatrics), AIIA Goa, said.

The institute is now looking towards tying up with special schools in the western coastal state to provide specialised services to children in community settings.

"We are looking forward to establishing memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with special schools across Goa."By joining forces, we'll be able to bring our specialized services right to the doors of the less fortunate children. This way, integrative neuro, rehabilitation can be made available to the community members who need it the most, " Dr Ghuse elaborated.

The PRAYAS at AIIA Goa, has been functioning as a multidisciplinary facility, delivering integrated, child, centred care to children with conditions such as cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention, deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), global developmental delay and other neuromuscular and neurobehavioral disorders.

The centre incorporates Ayurveda, based treatments with physiotherapy, yoga, speech therapy, occupational therapy and modern paediatric care, thus allowing for comprehensive assessment, individualised care planning, caregiver counselling and structured follow, up, Dr Ghuse added.

PRAYAS, through a well, defined, evidence, based integrative care pathway, is aiming at achieving functional changes that can be quantified as well as an improved quality of life for children with neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. They are also backed by standardized documentation and outcome tracking, " the institute stated.

Underscoring the next phase of strengthening and scale-up, Dr Sumeet Goel, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Kaumarbhritya (Ayurved Paediatrics), AIIA Goa, said, "Our future efforts will focus on developing standardised treatment guidelines and generating evidence to support replication of the PRAYAS model at larger public health levels, enabling wider access to integrative paediatric neuro-rehabilitation services." The move towards integrative approaches is even getting a boost from the state level.

During a recent interaction with Ayush and wellness stakeholders in Panaji, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of Goa pointed out the increasing capability of the state in the holistic wellness area and requested a set of rules that would help integrated wellness to be more robust. He also reiterated the vision of Goa to become a global hub for wellness and medical value travel.

The National Health Policy 2017 aims at an integrative, preventive, promotive and rehabilitative healthcare system. It also emphasizes the continuity of care through strengthened service delivery, which this initiative is in line with.

Globally, such service models resonate with international frameworks that emphasise people-centred integration of safe and effective traditional medicine into health systems, including focus on clinical practice guidelines, workforce development and standardised data systems, Dr Ghuse said.