Science vs Tradition? Doctors move Health ministry against MBBS-BAMS course

New Delhi: Doctors have moved the Health Ministry expressing their strong dissatisfaction with the central government's recent decision to approve India's first integrated MBBS+BAMS course, which aims to combine modern medicine with Ayurveda at JIPMER Puducherry.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported about the Centre's plans of integrating allopathic and Ayurvedic medicine with plans to launch India's first MBBS-BAMS course at JIPMER. Announcing the plan, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and AYUSH (Independent Charge), Prataprao Jadhav, said that the course is at the conceptual stage, with a new syllabus in development.

Strongly opposing the government decision to launch the course and calling it 'scientifically flawed' and 'incompatible', the United Doctors Front (UDF) association recently stated that merging both systems of medicine into a single course is scientifically flawed and could harm the quality of medical education. Therefore, the association demanded that the government reconsider and revoke the proposed course. 

Also read- Breaking: JIPMER to launch India's first integrated MBBS-BAMS course

In a letter to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the association mentioned that both systems are based on very different principles and combining them into one curriculum will confuse students and reduce their training in core medical skills.

The association further stated that the decision has caused immense anxiety within the medical community, especially among MBBS students and young doctors across the country and that it also poses significant risks to both the healthcare system and public safety.

"Even though we recognise and respect other kinds of medicine that helps patients, we are not in favour of merging two incompatible methods of medication whose roots are entirely different," said Dr Lakshya Mittal, President of UDF. 

Dr Mittal presented five key concerns regarding the impact of the MBBS + BAMS course on medical education. He pointed out that MBBS (modern medicine) and BAMS (Ayurveda) are founded on fundamentally different principles. Hence, a forced merger of both into a single curriculum is not only scientifically flawed but also pedagogically unsound. This may result in the production of untrained medical professionals who may risk our health care system.

Further, he said that the course could become a burden on students since the MBBS curriculum itself is one of the most rigorous professional courses in the country. "Undoubtedly infusing the contents of another medical system to the existing syllabus will overburden students, reduce core clinical training time, and lower the overall quality of education," he added. 

"India has made significant advances in evidence-based medicine. Promoting a hybrid model without sufficient scientific validation risks reversing this progress and may diminish our global reputation in medical education and practice," he added.

Citing the impact on healthcare standards, the association mentioned that patients deserve to be treated only by experts trained well in a specific system of medicine. An integrated graduate will be neither good at allopathic medicine nor will have expertise in Ayurvedic as he is forced to learn both within the existing time frame.

The organisation also mentioned that since both MBBS and BAMS courses currently take about 5.5 years each, expecting students to master both in the same time frame is unrealistic.

Earlier, opposing the course, IMA, in a Press Release, mentioned how the association has pointed out several times that mixing of systems "which are incompatible is an irreversible catastrophe". The association pointed out that since 1947, the life expectancy of an Indian has risen from a mere 32 years to 70.8 years in 2025. "This has been possible because of eradication of diseases like smallpox and neonatal tetanus by vaccines and access to modern maternal and child health care. Role of antibiotics and other modern drugs in treating diseases like Tuberculosis, plague, cholera and Typhoid was a significant contributor. Advances in cancer care, advent of insulin and other drugs for Diabetes and Hypertension as well as huge strides in managing heart diseases and stroke have a significant role," the association mentioned in the release.

"In any case China is not India's role model in Health Care. We have a robust chain of Hospitals and Public Health services. With 779 medical colleges and 136325 MBBS doctors per year India has the largest number of medical colleges. In southern states the Doctor Population ratio has plummeted to below 1:500. Apart from anything else India is the frontier of medicine today. Infrastructure and expertise exists to undertake any medical intervention at a fraction of the cost than elsewhere. Indian doctors are the backbone of medical services in several western countries," the release by IMA mentioned.

Chief Patron to the FAIMA Doctors Association and a health activist, Dr. Rohan Krishnan called MBBS and BAMS integrated course a "flop idea". He had told Medical Dialogues, "This is an absurd idea by JIPMER. Any integrated course of MBBS and Ayurveda is not required. Integration of courses and integrated medical facility are something which is going to promote mixopathy and promote irrational attitude of other streams of doctors towards patients."

Also read- Ayurveda-Allopathy Fusion Faces Backlash, Doctors urge Govt to reconsider JIPMER plan