Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey today informed Lok Sabha that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) organized a national capacity-building programme for Tribal Healers at Hyderabad, Telangana on 16 January 2026. The aim was to engage tribal healers as community-level partners in strengthening health outreach in tribal areas in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), ICMR-RMRC BB and Ministry of AYUSH.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs has articulated an indicative national target to enable recognition of one lakh tribal healers. However, identification, enumeration and criteria for recognition are undertaken at State level and through health system frameworks under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of AYUSH. In the capacity building program held on 16 January 2026 at Hyderabad, Telangana, State/ UT Governments have forwarded list of approx. 500 tribal healers for attending the programme. Around 50 numbers of tribal healers from Maharashtra attended the programme.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research - Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha is working on developing structured capacity-building and sensitization programmes for tribal healers, including training on preventive care, awareness generation, early identification and referral linkages.

The protection of indigenous tribal medical knowledge and prevention of its misuse is primarily the responsibility of State Governments, which oversee documentation processes and safeguard community intellectual rights. Ministry of Tribal Affairs has prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for capacity building programmes that incorporates ethical considerations, including prior informed consent and respect for traditional knowledge systems.

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