New Education Policy calls for Integration of Allopathy, AYUSH systems of Medicine

New Delhi: Stating that healthcare education in the country needs to be re-envisioned, the new National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) that has been approved by the cabinet calls for a healthcare education system that must be integrative.

Specifying on the word "integrative", the vision document that was recently released by the HRD ministry states that all students of allopathic medical education must have a basic understanding of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH), and vice versa. The document besides this, stresses on greater knowledge and skills on primary as well as preventive healthcare for students. The document states

Healthcare education needs to be re-envisioned so that the duration, structure, and design of the educational programmes need to match the role requirements that graduates will play. Students will be assessed at regular intervals on well-defined parameters primarily required for working in primary care and in secondary hospitals. Given that people exercise pluralistic choices in healthcare, our healthcare education system must be integrative meaning thereby that all students of allopathic medical education must have a basic understanding of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH), and vice versa. There shall also be a much greater emphasis on preventive healthcare and community medicine in all forms of healthcare education.