Maha:OPDs, clinics briefly shut in support of IMA protest call

The Indian Medical Association IMA, which had given the nation-wide call on December 1, has demanded withdrawal of the government notification.Doctors affiliated to the IMA across Maharashtra kept their OPDs, dispensaries and clinics shut for some time during the day as a mark of protest against the governments decision to allow post-graduate Ayurvedic physicians to perform certain types of surgeries after training, an IMA official said.

Doctors affiliated to the IMA in Maharashtra kept the dispensaries, OPDs and clinics shut for some time on Friday in support of the organisation's call for protest against the Centre's move allowing post-graduate Ayurveda practitioners to be trained in performing surgical procedures. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which had given the nation-wide call on December 1, has demanded withdrawal of the government notification.

''Doctors affiliated to the IMA across Maharashtra kept their OPDs, dispensaries and clinics shut for some time during the day as a mark of protest against the government's decision to allow post-graduate Ayurvedic physicians to perform certain types of surgeries after training,'' an IMA official said. ''However, emergency medical services were on,'' he said.

The IMA has said that the notification by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) to allow legal practice of surgeries by Ayurveda practitioners and the formation of four committees by NITI Aayog for integration of all systems of medicine will only lead to ''mixopathy''. ''We are not against any particular system of medicine, but the government's decision of mixing two systems and allowing Ayurveda practitioners to perform surgeries is highly risky. Anything could go wrong if the surgeon is not experienced,'' an IMA member said.

''Knowledge of diagnosis and medicines is one thing, but performing a surgery is altogether different. If anything goes wrong during the surgery, someone's life is at stake,'' he said..