IMA to withdraw non-essential, non-COVID services on December 11

NEW DELHI: The IMA on Tuesday gave a call to all doctors practicing modern medicine to withdraw non-essential and non-COVID services on December 11 in protest against a Central Council of Indian Medicine notification which authorises post-graduate practitioners in specified streams of Ayurveda to be trained to perform general surgical procedures.

Emergency services will function along with ICUs and CCUs but no elective surgical case will be posted, the doctors' body said.

Stating that the notification by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) to allows the legal practice of surgeries by Ayurveda practitioners and the formation of four committees by NITI Aayog for the integration of all systems of medicine will only lead to "mixopathy", the Indian Medical Association (IMA) demanded an immediate withdrawal of both.

"Launching the freedom struggle of modern medicine from the forces of mixopathy, IMA has directed public demonstration activities and withdrawal of non-essential and non-COVID services on December 11, 2020, from 6 AM to 6 PM," it said in a statement.

"The recent policy tilt as evidenced in the medical pluralism advocated by the National Education Policy 2020 and the four committees of NITI Aayog for officially integrating the systems of medicine in medical education, practice, public health and administration as well as research ostensibly for a one nation one system policy will ring the death knell of modern medicine system as a whole," IMA national president Dr Rajan Sharma said.

"The notification of the amendment to the CCIM Act on postgraduate Ayurveda surgery and the entitlement to study and practice independently have to be seen as another step in advancing and legitimising mixopathy," he said.

The IMA has also given a call for a public demonstration on December 8.

Adhering to COVID-19 protocols, the demonstrations will be held in small groups of 20 participants between 12 noon to 2 PM.

All the participants will wear white aprons and sport a stethoscope, along with showcasing placards with slogans against mixopathy, the statement said.

"The IMA demands withdrawal of the CCIM order and dissolution of the NITI AAYOG committees for integration.

IMA appeals to the government to consider the sensitivity of the medical fraternity and take appropriate steps.

"IMA will be constrained to intensify the agitation until the steps towards implementing mixopathy are abandoned.

IMA has appealed to all the sister professional speciality organisations, the organisations of medical college teachers, government doctors, resident doctors associations apart from medical students and hospitals associations to support its cause to retain the separate identity and existence of modern medicine," IMA secretary general Dr RV Asokan said.