Chennai: Thousands of doctors in the country took part in a strike called by the Indian Medical Association on Friday, against the Central government’s move to allow postgraduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in performing surgical procedures.
According to sources, around one million doctors took part in the protests, and sported black ribbons, even as non-Covid and non-essential activities were halted from 6 am to 6 pm.
Last month, the Central Council of Indian Medicine – the regulatory body for the study and practice of Ayurveda in India – amended the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, to include the regulation to permit post-graduate students of Ayurveda to receive training and practice of ‘shalya’ and ‘shalakya’. While shalya refers to general surgery, shalakya is related to diseases of the ear, nose, throat, head, eye, and oro-dentistry.
The Indian Medical Association had condemned the move, terming the decision as a ‘deceptive camouflage of mixing the systems of medicine’ and will only lead to ‘mixopathy’.
The Resident Doctors Association of AIIMS-Delhi, in a statement said, “This step will not only encourage already rampant quackery, but also undermine the safety of public. We request the government of India to retract this notification immediately. We stand with our medical fraternity in this regard and support the strike called by Indian Medical Association”, it said.
Following the backlash, the Ayush Ministry had earlier issued a statement clarifying that the amendment was specific to 58 surgical procedures only.