TheIndian Medical Association (IMA) has moved the Supreme Court against a CentralCouncil of Indian Medicine (CCIM) order to authorise postgraduate practitionersin specified streams of Ayurveda system of medicine to be trained to performgeneral surgical procedures.
"Thepetition was filed on Saturday to urge the court to set aside or quash theamendment to regulations to the Postgraduate Ayurveda Surgery by CCIM anddeclare that the council does not have the powers to include modern medicine insyllabus," IMA President Dr Rajan Sharma said.
Thecentral government had allowed PG students of Ayurveda to perform various kindsof general surgery and medical procedures, including orthopaedic,ophthalmology, ENT and dental, by notifying an amendment in a gazettenotification the CCIM issued in November.
Thelatest amendment allows PG Ayurveda students to receive formal training forsuch procedures. The training modules for surgical procedures will be added tothe curriculum of Ayurvedic studies.
TheCCIM amended the Indian Medicine Central Council (Postgraduate AyurvedaEducation) Regulations, 2016, to include the aforementioned regulation to allowthe PG students of Ayurveda system to practice general surgery.
Theemove has drawn a lot of criticism from doctors of modern medicine, leading to aseries of protests by IMA members across the country this month.
Lakhsof doctors, including those employed in government hospitals, wore blackarmbands at work and hit the streets in small groups to agitate against theCCIM's notification.
TheIMA has been openly opposing such policy moves by the Centre, especially theplan to mix modern medicine with the traditional systems of Ayurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) in coming years.
Sharmahad earlier said that an integrative system of medicine would create a"khichdi medical system" and produce hybrid doctors.
Theapex body of private practitioners of modern medicine had also condemned theCentre's ambitious 'one nation one system' policy in medical education andcalled it a cocktail of disaster.