P. Madhavankutty Varier, chief physician and trustee board member of Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala, has been elected managing trustee of the 119-year-old institution.
He replaces Aryavaidyan P.K. Warrier, who passed away on Saturday after heading Arya Vaidya Sala for 67 years.
A meeting of the board held on Sunday chose Dr. Varier, who is widely known in Ayurveda circles as P.M. Varier, as new managing trustee. He became chief physician of Arya Vaidya Sala in 2019.
Dr. Varier, who will turn 74 in December, began his career as assistant physician in Arya Vaidya Sala in 1969 after obtaining a postgraduate degree from Government Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram.
He became Arya Vaidya Sala’s factory manager in 1985. In 1993, he headed Arya Vaidya Sala’s Chennai branch. He was elevated to additional chief physician’s rank in 1995, and to superintendent’s rank in 1999.
Since 2007, Dr. Varier has been a trustee board member.
Married to Shailaja Madhavankutty, who is Arya Vaidya Sala’s senior manager (materials), Dr. Varier has been a governing body member of the Kerala Ayurvedic Studies and Research Society; president of the Travancore-Cochin Medical Council (Indigenous Medicine); president of the Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association; president of the Kerala Ayurveda Mandalam; and member of the Union Government’s Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia Committee.
Dr. Varier is also member of the State Ayurveda Advisory Committee, and that of Union Government’s Ayurveda Siddha Unani Drug Technical Advisory Board.
Recipient of the State government’s Dhanwantari Award in 2014, Dr. Varier is a fellow of the Rashtreeya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth since 2009.
Dr. Varier said that he would carry the great legacy left by his uncle and strive to take Arya Vaidya Sala to further heights. He said Dr. Warrier’s passing was a great blow to the Arya Vaidya Sala family, especially at a time when COVID-19 was posing an array of challenges.
The board meeting expressed grief over Dr. Warrier’s death. Apart from Dr. Varier, board members P. Raghava Varier, K. Muraleedharan, C.E. Unnikrishnan, K.R. Ajay, and Sujit S. Warrier; advisor K.M. Chandrasekharan; and chief executive officer G.C. Gopala Pillai attended the meeting.
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