Allopathy doctors of private and government hospitals on Friday protested against the provision allowing Post Graduate Ayurveda students to perform general surgery, ENT, dental and opthalmology procedures, by boycotting out-patient services from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The protest was in response to the call given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). The doctors are against the gazette notification issued by Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) on November third week, titled Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations, 2020.
The association’s Telangana chapter members had earlier said that they were against ‘encroachment’ of Ayurveda into allopathy disciplines of general surgery, opthalomology, ENT, and orthopaedics.
The doctors, who have been expressing their views against the provision for the past few weeks, took to social media on Thursday night to announce their 12-hour protest on Friday.
On November 22, the Ministry of AYUSH clarified that the notification specified that there are a total of 58 surgical procedures that PG scholars of Shalya and Shalakya streams need to be practically trained for so as to enable them to independently perform them after completion of their PG degree. It was also clarified that this does not allow such scholars to take up any other type of surgery.
The Ministry further stated that the notification was a clarification of the relevant provisions in the previously existing regulations of 2016.
Since the beginning, Shalya and Shalakya are independent departments in Ayurveda colleges that performed such surgical procedures.
