IMA plea against allowing PG Ayurveda doctors to perform surgery: SC seeks Center's response

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notices to the Ministry of Ayush, CCIM and National Medical Commission while seeking their replies on the petition, reports PTI.

IMA has moved the top court seeking to set aside or quash the amendment to regulations to the Postgraduate Ayurveda Surgery by CCIM and declare that the council does not have the powers to include modern medicine in the syllabus.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that IMA has been openly opposing such policy moves by the Centre, especially the plan to mix modern medicine with the traditional systems of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) in coming years.

The move has drawn a lot of criticism from doctors of modern medicine, leading to a series of protests by IMA members across the country.

Lakhs of doctors, including those employed in government hospitals, wore black armbands at work and hit the streets in small groups to agitate against the CCIM's notification.

Also Read: Allopathy Doctors Reach Supreme Court Challenging PG Ayurveda Doctors Performing Surgeries Order

The notification by the CCIM listed 39 general surgery procedures and around 19 procedures involving the eye, ear, nose and throat by amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016.

According to the November 20, 2020 gazette notification the procedures listed include removal of metallic and non-metallic foreign bodies from non-vital organs, excision of a simple cyst or benign tumours of non-vital organs, amputation of gangrene, traumatic wound management, foreign body removal from stomach, squint surgery, cataract surgery and functional endoscopic sinus surgery.