Growing Demand for Ayurveda after MBBS in Maharashtra

Written by Barsha Misra Published On 2022-06-19T15:00:41+05:30 | Updated On 19 Jun 2022 3:00 PM IST

Growing Demand for Ayurveda after MBBS in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Leaving the Dental courses behind, the demand for Ayurveda courses are growing every single day to such an extent that it has become the second preference after MBBS for the students aspiring to pursue medicine in Maharashtra.

The growth is so rapid that in the last four years, the seats in AYUSH courses have gone up by around 30%, revealed the admission data. Not only AYUSH, but the demand is increasing for the Homeopathy (BHMS) courses as well. where the vacancies have dropped from 844 to 60 in the academic years 2019-2020, adds TOI.

While on the one hand this growth is a result of the major boost given to the traditional medicines by the Central Government, on the other, patients are getting drawn towards Ayurvedic medicine because of its alleged minimal side effects.

When back in 2018-2019, there were around 4,300 AYUSH seats in Maharashtra, the number has increased up to 5,600 in 2021-2022. Referring to this, Medical education counsellor Muzaffar Khan has opined that contrary to past when people used to prefer dental courses after MBBS, these days they are preferring BAMS.

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Speaking about this changing preferences, Govind Khati, director, Directorate of AYUSH, Maharashtra told the Times of India, "Opportunities have increased as students can practice Ayurveda and at the same time they have knowledge of modern medicine too. These students also get clinical exposure right from their second year. AYUSH doctors were also in the forefront during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are employed in rural health centres, where there is a shortage."

"People are also getting drawn towards Ayurveda as they have realised that there are minimal side effects and there are many lifestyle diseases which do not have a cure in modern medicine," Govind Khati, who is also the dean of R A Podar Ayurveda Medical College further added. He also pointed out that students are also pursuing PG courses in Ayurveda.

While commenting on the matter, Dr. pravin Shingare, the former director of DMER opined that these days parents are willing to pay more for securing admission in the management seats in private Ayurveda colleges.

"Since the last four years, the state government has allowed homeopathy doctors to pursue a bridge course in modern pharmacology in medical colleges. Except for ailments that require specialty, such as cancer, these doctors are trained to provide medicines for diseases," he said.

TOI adds that even though the one-year bridge course was initially introduced only in the government medical colleges, but the growing demand has allowed the States to permit it in a few private medical colleges as well.

However, a doctor has opined at this outset that the question if AYUSH doctors can legally practice modern medicine is debatable as medical practitioners are strongly opposing the same.

Although the Central Government is encouraging AYUSH medicine system, it should be mentioned in this context that recently the National Medical Commission tried to draw a line between the AYUSH and modern system of medicine.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in order to differentiate themselves from the scientists and researchers who have done PhD in their respective domains, as well as practitioners of other systems of medicine, the medical doctors practicing modern medicine can now use the prefix "Med Dr.", the NMC recommended in its recently released Draft Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2022.

However, such a provision has been extended only to the Medical Practitioners who are registered under the NMC Act 2019, the new draft regulations have clarified.

"Only those RMPs who are registered under NMC Act, 2019, can use Medical Doctor (Med Dr.) as a prefix before their names," NMC specified while addressing the duties and responsibilities of the Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs).

Under the new guidelines, all RMPs registered with NMC or State Medical Council (SMC) should add 'Med Dr' as a prefix to their names to show that they only practice modern medicine or Allopathy.

"The RMP shall display as suffix to his/her name only NMC recognized and accredited medical degrees/diplomas as provided in the nomenclature of the regulations and listed on the NMC website. (List of such Degrees and Diplomas will be on the website and updated regularly)," read the guidelines.

Also Read: Practitioners of Modern Medicine to now use prefix Med Dr: NMC guidelines

Ayurveda doctorsmbbs doctorsAyush coursesMedical education counsellorBachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and SurgeryBAMSBHMS coursesModern PharmacologyDirectorate of ayush

Source : with inputs

Barsha Misra

Barsha completed her Master's in English from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal in 2018. Having a knack for Journalism she joined Medical Dialogues back in 2020. She mainly covers news about medico legal cases, NMC/DCI updates, medical education issues including the latest updates about medical and dental colleges in India. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.