New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS) The government has approved the setting up of an All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in the national capital for research and scientific validation of ayurvedic medicines.Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi told the Rajya Sabha Friday that the government has approved setting up of the institute in Sarita Vihar.

The institute will focus on fundamental research, drug safety evaluation, standardization, quality control and scientific validation of ayurvedic medicine, she said.

The institute would offer postgraduate and doctoral courses.

It will have a 200 bed research and referral hospital for facilitating clinical research.

“The All India Institute of Ayurveda would be fully functional by the end of 11th Five Year Plan by March, 2012,” she added.

It will have the capacity to treat about 250 to 300 patients daily, she said.