CHENNAI: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) will file a case in the Supreme Court challenging the recent notification of Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) allowing a specific stream of Ayurveda practitioners to perform certain surgical procedures involving ear, nose and throat.
The notification drew flak from doctors practising modern medicine and the IMA has announced that it will hold demonstrations across the country on December 8 and on December 11, will withdraw all non-essential services barring Covid-19 duty and essential services.
Speaking to Express, Dr JA Jayalal, president (elect), IMA said, “We will file a case in the Supreme Court challenging the order. We are not against other systems of medicine. But we are against the mixing of systems. Modern medicine is evidence-based medicine.
Doctors take years to specialise in a particular area. So people, without studying modern medicine, cannot put it to practical use.” Jayalal said if the textbooks of Ayurveda medicine teach how to perform surgeries, and also about anesthesiology and drugs to treat complications, then they can go ahead. But mixing it with modern medicine is almost akin to claiming that Ayurveda is an inferior system.
Saying that the IMA State branch also will refrain from attending to non-essential services in hospitals on December 11, Dr CN Raja, president, IMA TN branch said that the Centre is free to promote ‘one nation-one ration card’ or ‘one Aadhar card’ but not ‘one nation-one medicine system’. Raja also said there is no point in introducing NEET for admissions to medical exams, and studying MBBS and then post-graduation together for years.
Meanwhile, R Prathiban, Advisor National Ayurveda Students and Youth Association, Tamil Nadu Chapter said, "Already in Central Government institutes like National Institute of Ayurveda in Jaipur, ayurveda practitioners are doing selective surgical procedures with the help of allopathy doctors. They are using modern anaesthesia, but before and post surgery only ayurveda medicines are being given to patients. So with training ayurveda practitioners can perform certain surgeries that are performed by modern medicine doctors."
Prathiban said that the central government notification allows only post graduates (MS) in Shalya Tantra, an ancient surgical science branch, which teaches certain surgical procedures, to do these procedures but not all ayurveda graduates.
IMA’s Dec 11 decision in State
The IMA State branch also will refrain from attending to non-essential services in hospitals on December 11, said Dr CN Raja, president, IMA TN Branch