Against the Centre’s decision to allow post-graduate Ayurvedic doctors to perform surgeries, the Indian Medical Association(IMA), the apex body of Indian doctors, called for the withdrawal of all non-essential and non-COVID services between 6.00 am and 6.00 pm on December 11. However, emergency services including casualty, labor rooms, emergency surgeries, intensive care units (ICUs), and critical care units (CCUs) were exempt from the strike.
The notification issued by the Central Council of Indian Medicine, a statutory body under the Ministry of AYUSH meant to regulate the Indian systems of medicine, listed 39 general surgery procedures and around 19 procedures involving the eye, ear, nose, and throat by amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016.
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The top medical body has severely condemned the Centre’s decision to allow post-graduate Ayurveda doctors to formally practice general surgery, including ortho and dentistry. The IMA has called it the central government’s “retrograde step” of mixing the systems (mixopathy) and that it would be resisted. The allopathy doctors association also said that students and practitioners of modern medicine across India are agitated over this violation of “mutual identity and respect”.
In an official statement, the IMA said that the move and the formation of four committees by NITI Aayog for the integration of all systems of medicine will only lead to “mixopathy”.
Medical practitioners are completely baffled by the turn of events and have provided their insight on the issue. Here is what LifeBeyondNumbers collected.
Let’s hear it from an Ayurvedic Practitioner first.
“As per the syllabus of BAMS degree, all the medical subjects of “non-clinical, para-clinical and clinical” are taught to the students covering theory, practical including clinical training in the attached teaching hospitals, along with their Sanskrit versions. So don’t say they have no knowledge about modern science. IMA/ allopathy doctors didn’t have any objections when Ayush doctors were given permission to work in COVID where the majority of Ayush doctors risked their lives for the benefit of people. Now IMA has a problem. This just shows how selfish IMA is,” Dr. Rida Mohammadi, BAMS, V Care Clinic, Mysore.
Now let’s note the majority – the allopathy doctors.
“Mixopathy actually means practicing a mixture of two pathies, say Allopathy and Homeopathy. But how can one practice without being trained in it? A doctor becomes a General Surgeon after rigorous practical and hands-on training for 3 yrs after the completion of MBBS. Similar is the time period or sometimes even more in fields of Obstetrics, Ophthalmology Urology, etc. There are no shortcuts to get trained for surgery. By allowing other pathy doctors to perform surgeries is putting peoples lives at risk and making their lives bad to worse because of complications,” Dr. Sayali Jahagirdar, Asst Professor, PDMMC, Amaravati, Maharashtra.
“This is legalizing quackery. Treatment will go into the hands of unqualified and inexperienced. This will be definitely detrimental for the common public. For this, they can increase the number of medical colleges in the country. There is a wide disparity of doctors in various states. Like in TN there is 1 doctor per 250 people while in states like Bihar, it is around 1 dr per 8000 population. This has to be addressed. Also, there is an urban-rural divide even in the most urbanized states like TN, Kerala, and Maharashtra.” – Dr. Navaneetha Krishnan, Asst. Prof. Anaesthesiology, Saveetha Medical College, Chennai.
“Mixopathy’ is an idea never named so before. In pathology when the suffix “pathy” is added to some organ or part of the human body it means disease or malfunction of the same which is to be fought against. Likewise, if two systems of science fail to work in tandem the result may be devastating, particularly if they are for human-wellbeing. Problems are many – one has to be proficient in both the systems to monitor it or to work on it. Who will be the decider? The patient will be at the receiving end,” Dr. Tapan Kumar Ray, Anaesthesiology Professor, KIMS, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
“I think it’s high time for the great surgeons of India to go to hibernation and rest and peacefully and masterly watch the complications committed by Ayurvedic surgeons. After all, after a long period of learning and training one should have proper rest,” Dr. Sahadev Sahu, Retired Medical Practitioner, USA.
Would you like to go under the knives of an Ayurvedic practitioner?
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