THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The question of allowing Ayurveda doctors to train in surgery and delivering babies and letting them prescribe certain allopathic medicines has widened the rift between the practitioners of the two systems of medicine.
The practitioners of modern medicine say the move will only create “semi-qualified” doctors while Ayurveda doctors argue that the training aims only to provide a general overview of the entire healthcare system.
Though the government wants both systems of medicines to join hands, modern medicine doctors demur saying that it will “create anarchy”.
And while the Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) maintains that the training is part of a national policy, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) denies there is any such policy.
Claiming that the move is a violation of the Medical Council of India’s guidelines that allow only those going to practise modern medicine to train in the system of medicine, Dr Sreejith N Kumar, president of the Kerala chapter of the Indian Medical Association, said: “Ayruveda doctors say they want to watch autopsies, delivery and surgery. Why do they want to watch them? Surgery, delivery and autopsies are not exhibitions for people to watch.”
Ayurveda Medical Association of India general secretary Dr Rejith Anand said it was just one month’s training that was being proposed and that it was meant only for making Ayurveda practitioners aware of the complications that could arise during surgery or delivery. “We don’t know how Ayurveda doctors and students getting one month’s training or watching surgery is going to create any problem. Just like allopathic doctors, Ayurveda doctors also study human anatomy and physiology,” he said.
However, Sreejith said: “One doesn’t decide if a patient should be given Ayurvedic or allopathic treatment after seeing surgery or delivery.
If an Ayurveda doctor wants to practise modern medicine, let him complete MBBS, which is the basic qualification for practising modern medicine.”
Referring to the barrage of allegations that have come up against practitioners of alternative medicine, he said a state like Kerala didn’t need such practitioners.
“There are a lot of modern medicine practitioners who can prescribe modern medicine,” he said.
He also questioned the rationale behind incorporating modern medicine lessons in the syllabi of Ayurveda courses.
However, Anand attributed the opposition of some allopathic doctors to the industrialisation of the health sector, adding that “only a section of doctors who see the profession as business” are objecting to the idea.
On the issue of prescribing drugs, Kumar said that Ayurveda doctors didn’t generally prescribe allopathic drugs except for some painkillers and alleged that it was modern medicine doctors who prescribed Ayurveda drugs largely for treating gynaecologic and renal issues and hyper acidity.
Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Knives-are-out-over-Surgery-Training-for-Ayurveda-Docs/2015/02/23/article2682326.ece
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