The Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) has come out against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s remark that those without mandatory certificates too could offer medical treatment.
Raju Thomas, president, AMAI, and Sadath Dinakar R., secretary, said in a release on Monday that Mr. Vijayan’s statement was against the Supreme Court verdict on April 13, 2018, which mandated a degree and registration with the Medical Council of India (MCI) for medical practice. It was ironical that the authorities who were supposed to uphold the verdict themselves were speaking against its essence.
Mr. Vijayan made the remark while opening a sports institute complex for Ayurvedic treatment. The AMAI functionaries pointed out that unqualified people, who claim to be traditional medical practitioners, were being granted licence in Kerala. “In the normal course, a student who clears the Plus Two examination has to clear the entrance test and spend at least eight-and-a-half-years before getting a licence,” they said. In this context, allowing people without even basic degrees to practise medicine posed a threat to public health, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Dinakar added.