The department of Ayurvedic medicine under the supervision of Dr. T. Parivallal was started in the year 2004 for handling the clinical trials on ayurvedic medicines at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. Later its activities were extended to creating awareness and elucidating the significance of the use of alternative medicines in the treatment of diabetes and its complication. The key areas focused on are Clinical research on the efficacy and safety of ayurvedic medicines for Diabetes and its complications (Diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy), Epidemiological studies on public awareness, health seeking behaviour of diabetics and ayurvedic medicines concerned with diabetes.

The department also providing consultation and awareness on the role of alternative medicine in treating diabetes for individuals who wish to avail of the facility. Contract Ayurvedic clinical research and Epidemiological studies related to Alternative medicine and diabetes are also carried out. The department also extends its services to designing protocols, CRF’s, Consent forms, Research articles for ayurvedic clinical trials as well as maintaining a library for Ayurvedic medicine.
 
The future research interests of the department include the evaluation of the metal and mineral content in alternative medicines that are used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Chennai city. A project in the pipeline is a randomized-open-labeled comparative study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Ayurvedic medicine with conventional medicine when treating diabetic neuropathy. Another study intends to capture physician’s (alternative medicine and allopathy) awareness and attitude in understanding the role of alternative medicine in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Chennai city.