MBBS vs AYUSH: Supreme Court says no parity
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The Supreme Court reiterated that AYUSH doctors or Ayurveda practitioners cannot seek parity with modern medicine or Allopathic doctors.
This observation was made by the Apex Court bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan while dismissing a special leave petition filed in this regard.
At this outset, the bench noted the qualitative distinction between the academic qualifications and standard of imparting of the respective degree courses.
Referring to the Court's earlier decision in the case of State of Gujarat And Ors. v. Dr. P.A. Bhatt And Ors. and also the case of Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences and another vs. Bikartan Das and others, the top court bench observed, "...we are satisfied on facts that the Ayurvedic or AYUSH doctors serving in the State of Kerala, having regard to the qualitative distinction in the academic qualifications and the standard of imparting respective degree courses, cannot seek parity with medical doctors."
In Dr. P.A. Bhatt's case, the Supreme Court held that allopathy doctors and doctors of indigenous medicine cannot be said to be performing equal work.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that back then referring to the difference in workload between the Ayurveda practitioners and the allopathic doctors, the Supreme Court had opined that Ayurveda practitioners were not entitled to equal pay with the practitioners of modern medicine.
With this observation, a top court bench of Justices V. Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal had set aside the Gujarat High Court order which had held that Ayurveda practitioners should be treated at par with doctors with MBBS degrees.
However, opposing this decision, the top court bench held that the allopathic practitioners deal with a greater number of patients, they perform emergency duties and complicated surgeries, while this was not the case of the Ayurveda practitioners.
"It is common knowledge that during out-patient days (OPD) in general hospitals in cities/towns, MBBS doctors are made to attend to hundreds of patients, which is not the case with Ayurved doctors," the top court bench had at that time.
Meanwhile, in the case of Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences and Another v. Bikartan Das and Others, where the Court had held that a CCRAS employee was not automatically entitled to seek parity in superannuation age with the AYUSH doctors.
To view the recent order of the Supreme Court, click on the link below:
https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/dr-solamon-v-state-of-kerala-264271.pdf
