Srinagar: Doctors in the valley have strongly opposed the Government of India’s decision of “mixopathy”, which allows postgraduate students in Ayurveda to perform a variety of general surgeries, ENT, ophthalmology, and dental procedures.
On November 20, 2020, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) issued a gazette notification amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (Postgraduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, which allows postgraduate Ayurveda students to undergo training for 58 surgical procedures in general surgery, ENT, ophthalmology and dentistry and perform surgeries.
The move has evoked a sharp reaction from the health professionals who have demanded the withdrawal of this order.
“At a time when the world is constantly striving for ways of modernizing medicine further, we are being pushed back. This step will encourage quackery, compromise patient health, besides undermining years of hard work, and learning of medical professionals,” reads the official statement by Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA), Government Medical College, Srinagar.
The Association has said the government should “reconsider its plan and retract the notification at the earliest.”
“To cater to the low doctors-patient ratio, we request the administration to recruit more allopathic doctors and improve the health care infrastructure in periphery,” the statement says.
Post-graduate resident at SMHS Hospital, Srinagar and Spokesperson of RDA, Dr Irtifa Kanth said mixing the two separate systems will put all hard work of medical professionals down the drain, besides being detrimental to the patients.
“This is a time of Super-specialization. We have a specialist for almost every organ of body. This system of “mixopathy” goes against every advance that has been made in the field of medical science and hence the decision should be revisited,” he said.
Seconding him, a senior doctor at SMHS Hospital said the system of “mixopathy” is going to harm the patients.
“Their mandate was to prescribe ayurveda herbs etc, not allopathic medicines. Moreover, the training in general surgery only requires 3 year post-graduation and here they are masters from head to toe. This is regression not progression,” he said.
President Doctors Association of Kashmir, Dr Suhail Naik said the long-term repercussions of this regulation can affect “patient care.”
“According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Pharmacology in 2007, Ayurveda practitioners prescribe significantly more antibiotics, steroids and PPI than allopathic doctors. Such irrational practices have given rise to antibiotic resistance and increase cost for patients,” Dr Naik said.
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