NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has just formed a committee to recommend a roadmap for a department on spiritual medicine. Sections of the staff and faculty panned the decision, claiming it was deviating from an evidence-based approach.
AIIMS Delhi issued an order stating that it should create new disciplinary departments in transplant medicine, medical education and spiritual medicine. The committee has been asked to give its recommendations by the end of October.
If the proposal fructifies, AIIMS will become the first government healthcare institute to open a department that is not a branch of modern medicine. Sections of the faculty, however, see it as anti-science. “It’s against scientific temperament and will put this premier health institute in a poor light,” a senior professor said. The institute has been promoting anti-science activities and now it has decided to legitimise it in the form of a department, the professor added.
Dr Rima Dada, AIIMS spokesperson, said the proposal is in a nascent stage. It will take an integrated approach and aid the modern medicine departments. Yoga and Reiki will be part of it. There was, however, no clarity on the faculty who would run the department.
She pointed out that the University of Michigan and Yale School of Medicine already have dedicated courses for spirituality in science. The institute is also planning to introduce spirituality in MBBS, according to sources.