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Over 3.5 lakh doctors will be on strike across the country on Friday to protest, what they call “mixopathy” – the Government’s move to allow a section of Ayurveda doctors to undertake certain surgeries.
Indian healthcare professionals have been at the forefront in managing healthcare systems in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries, says Dr Rajan Sharma, National President, Indian Medical Association, but in allowing Ayurveda practitioners to do surgeries, they are eroding a system that works and “poaching modern medicine”, he said.
“I am not against Ayurveda, but the Government needs to invest in that separately,” Sharma told Business Line, adding that mixing different systems of medicine would affect the purity of Ayurveda as well. Hospitals have different medicine systems under one roof, to “let the patient have a choice,” he said, calling for a repeal of the directive.
“It is a cruel joke on the nation in the garb of nationalism,” he said, adding that the brunt of the hybrid system would be felt across the country. But would politicians and Government officials get a surgery done under such a system, he asked.
No non-emergency services
Pointing out that doctors were already facing issues like non-payment of salaries, he cautioned that young doctors and aspiring ones were getting demotivated by the Government’ move. Across associations, medical teachers and students are joining tomorrow’s protest, he said, adding that non-emergency services would not function.
The doctors strike comes even as the country witnesses the farmers protest over the last many days. The Government has not reached out to the doctors, he said, to resolve the issue. Friday will see a 6 am to 6 pm strike, following which he said, they would take legal recourse if the Government does not repeal the said notification.
Doctor disclosure
Interestingly, an online survey by community social media platform LocalCircles found that 11,200-odd responses were almost evenly divided when asked if they supported the Government’s notification allowing a section of Ayurveda practitioners to undertake some surgeries. The shortage of qualified doctors in the country appeared to be the reasoning behind the acceptance of allowing a traditional doctor do some procedures, as opposed to having no doctor at all.
The telling response, though, was to a query on whether they would go to an AYUSH doctor to have a tooth extraction or a root-canal procedure. Of the 8,300 odd responses, 79 percent said they would go to an “allopathic-qualified dentist”.
One of the suggestions emerging from this citizen consultation was for full disclosure by doctors trained under the hybrid system to their patients, that they were not allopathic doctors. The survey received over 28,000 responses from across 303 districts.
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