In first of its kind, Sri Lanka finally got its first university specially dedicated to the development and promotion of indigenous medicine in Colombo. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday inaugurated the Gampaha Wickramarachchi University of Indigenous Medicine (GWUIM). 

The newly inaugurated university was earlier an indigenous medicine college. Earlier, in 2011, the government had promised to convert the college to the university but it had been delayed for more than a decade. 

A report in Colombopage said the institute was started in 1929 by Ayurveda Chakravarty Pandith G.P. Wickramarachchi, with just 20 students. Later in 1995, it became the Yakkala Wickramarachchi Indigenous Medical Institute and was affiliated to the University of Kelaniya.   

Indigenous medicines, or alternate medicines, have traditionally been in use for centuries in the South and Southeast Asia regions. The establishment of the university would further promote research works in the field and would provide the scientific basis for its promotion.