NEW DELHI: The Centre has announced a new integrated medical course combining MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) and BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry.
However, the announcement of starting such a course, which met with stiff opposition from modern medicine practitioners, has one big catch – the regulatory bodies, including the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM), do not seem to be involved in the proposal or even setting up the curriculum, as per RTI documents.
File noting, made available through RTIs, has shown that the Union Health Ministry has sought comments from JIPMER about its proposal, the details on the course and its curriculum not once or twice but four times.
The last time the ministry wrote to JIPMER to comment was on July 11 – nearly two months after Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and AYUSH, Prataprao Jadhav, announced on May 27 about the course, stating that “it is in the conceptual stage, and efforts are underway to frame a new syllabus.”
The ministry’s push for comments from JIPMER is in sharp contrast to a similar proposal made in 2022 by a Dehradun-based individual who had suggested changes in medical courses etc.
At that time, the union health ministry had forwarded the proposals to the NMC, a statutory body that regulates medical education, medical professionals, institutes, and research.
Moreover, there was no joint meeting involving all the three regulatory bodies – the NMC, the Central Council of Homoeopathy and the Central Council of Indian Medicine - which meets every year once to enhance the interface between Homoeopathy, Indian Systems of Medicine and modern systems of medicine – to discuss the new course.
Kerala-based RTI activist, Dr K V Babu, who filed a series of RTIs to get more information about the government's attempt for “mixopathy,” said the NCISM to his question on more details about such a course said, “No such information is available with this Commission.”
“The union health ministry is pushing the move for such an integrated medical course. But RTIs have shown that there has been no joint meeting or joint approval for such a course,” he told this paper.
“The government has to explain under which law, the Union Health Ministry is planning to start an integrated course? Why has the NMC, which regulates education in modern medicine, been kept in the dark for more than one and a half years? What is the role of NMC if the government is implementing/enforcing such decisions without any discussions with various stakeholders? Mixing science with non-science seems to be taken at the political level in our country," he said.
The proposal for such an integrated medical course was proposed by Auroville Foundation with the aim of having a holistic approach to healthcare in January 2024.
Auroville foundation proposed the draft curriculum in collaboration with some Ayurvedic Universities and JIPMER for integrated medical education, leading to the grant of dual degrees of MBBS and BAMS.
The proposal also included setting up a satellite centre at the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar, and a satellite centre at JIPMER.
After receiving the proposal, the health ministry in its February 13, 2024, letter to JIPMER said, “It has been requested that the matter may kindly be considered in an expeditious manner with a view to starting the course on integral medical education from the forthcoming academic year.”
However, there was no response from JIPMER. The ministry continued to send reminders – December 31, 2024, March 10, 2025 and finally on July 11, 2025 – about their comments with regard to their proposal.
In its July 11 reminder letter to JIPMER, the ministry said, “However, no response has been received yet. We may, therefore, if approved, again issue a reminder to the institute to expedite and furnish the requisite comments to the Ministry,” the file noting said.
“It seems the ministry this time is keen to introduce a new course without involving the regulators. The repeated reminders to JIPMER clearly shows the government’s intention to start an integrated medical course, without taking the key statutory bodies on board,” Dr Babu added.