Doctors protest order barring them from Integrated Med

BENGALURU: The National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA), representing doctors of Indian systems of medicine, held a protest on Monday against the government’s bias towards Indian System of Medicine (ISM) doctors. They met Health Minister B Sriramulu and submitted a memorandum demanding withdrawal of the controversial order disallowing government AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Sidda and Homoeopathy) doctors from practising Essential Modern Medicine (Integrated System) in primary healthcare. 

NIMA said the order was a violation of the Supreme Court’s interlocutory judgment SLP (Civil 26145 of 2016) and asked the government to withdraw it. Dr Bhusnurmath RG, vice-president of NIMA, said, “There is no legal barrier for NIMA members to continue practice and serve the public in the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the matter of NIMA members practising integrated system of medicine is in the Supreme Court, State authorities should respect the SC’s interlocutory judgment, or it can amount to contempt of court.”

Salary disparity
NIMA’s state general secretary Dr C S Karamudi demanded that ISM government doctors be paid on par with allopathy doctors.