Karnataka: Government to fill PHC vacancies with AYUSH doctors, IMA cries foul

It is further reported that a committee under the chairmanship of the State drug controller has been appointed to study the feasibility of allowing AYUSH doctors to prescribe allopathic medicines as well as the possibility of providing a three-month training to the recruited AYUSH doctors by the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare in allopathy practice.

Strong Opposition 

The move has met with strong opposition from the state branch of the Indian Medical Association as well as the Karnataka Medical Council, who have alleged that this would “make way for quackery.”

IMA State president Rajashekar S. Bellary told Hindu that by legally allowing cross practice, the State government would put the lives of poor patients in rural areas at risk. “We have expressed our opposition on several occasions and have also written to the department demanding that the move be dropped. No AYUSH practitioner with a three-month training can be as eligible as an MBBS doctor to treat patients with allopathy medicines. It is dangerous and risky,” the doctor said.

While the doctors have cited various Supreme Court Judgements as well as government circulars in this regard, the health minister seems to be strongly inclined towards the said move.

Speaking with Express, Health Minister K R Ramesh Kumar clearly said, “When we made rural service compulsory, MBBS doctors went to court and got a stay. They have been made doctors with the state’s money but there is no sense of gratitude among them. Now when we want to recruit AYUSH doctors, they want to oppose that too. Should people be left to die?