Pharmaceutical industry and the medical practice are two key segments of the healthcare sector and on both these fronts India has made significant progress over the last 25 years. But the benefits of this advancements largely available to the population living in cities and other urban centres of the country. And the access of modern medicine and the services of qualified medical practitioners are, thus, denied to the majority of the people living in rural settings. This is despite the fact that there has been a notable increase in the income levels of the rural folk over the years. The fundamental reason for this state of affairs is the reluctance of medical practitioners to serve in rural areas. If the doctors refuse to move to rural areas, the medicine shops cannot come up in these locations. Medical students have an obligation to serve at least two years at a Primary Health Centre when they pass out with the MBBS degree. Very few of these professionals abide by this condition causing perpetual shortage of doctors in rural areas in the country. Most of the health departments of state governments have been increasingly facing this dilemma of unwillingness of doctors to serve the rural population.
In situation like this, both the Central and state governments are forced to find a solution to overcome this problem of non availability of medical assistance to rural population. The Union government is already considering the matter seriously and is thinking of allowing Ayush doctors to practice allopathy and use modern medical technology for treating patients in rural areas. Maharashtra government already allowed qualified homoeopathic doctors to practice modern medicine in the villages last year so as to provide some medical help to its rural population in case of an emergency. The permission is being granted on a condition that they should pass a one-year course in pharmacology conducted by the State Medical Education Board. The homoeopathy students do not have pharmacology as a subject during the BHMS course and it is important that they should have the basic knowledge of this subject which explains the chemical reactions of drugs. These government initiatives, however, are being strongly opposed by the allopathy medical practitioners and some of their associations are planning to move court against the government. Their argument is that by allowing medical professionals of ayurveda and homoeopathy to practice allopathy, a dilution of medical systems can occur and that may ultimately result in a sharp rise in the number of quacks in the country. This position of allopathy practitioners is not totally baseless considering the fact that quacks are already practicing in countryside in large numbers. But the government has to find a solution for non availability of medical assistance in the vast rural areas of the country. And if the allopathy doctors are not cooperating with the government, the only option left to the authorities is to allow practitioners of other medical systems to practice allopathy with adequate safeguards and monitoring.