The Ayurvedic Medical Association of India (AMAI) is learnt to have taken serious objection to the Kerala government' move to grant registration for traditional medical practitioners without necessary education qualifications. The Association has written a letter to the Central Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj stating that the state government's move was against the provisions and spirit of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act 1970 (IMCC) Act.

The Association alleged that the former state health minister P.Sankaran had written to the Central Minister to consider the case of traditional practitioners with an open mind, by citing and distorting a Kerala High Court order, when center responded to the bill asking to exclude the provision of registration for traditional medical practitioners without adequate educational qualifications.

AMAI said the minister was mentioning about an interim single bench judgment dated 17/6/1997 allowing the traditional practitioners to continue their practice until a final verdict on registration. The minister mentioned only about this interim order and consciously avoided the final verdict of the Division Bench of High Court dated 8/1/2003, which overruled the former verdict.

The petition to allow traditional practitioners to get registration was filed by Vanchiyoor Madham Dhanwanthari on behalf of the traditional practitioners. In the judgment, the division bench consisting of Chief Justice Jawaharlal Guptha and Justice M Ramachandran had said it was impossible to allow registration for unqualified practitioners, though the state had allowed the renowned Ashtavaidyas to practise many decades ago. It was impossible to compare such a provision then and the current scenario, and the court had felt it was impossible to allow the demand of the traditional practitioners, noted AMAI.

The Association said the move of the state Government would bring in a mechanism to help unqualified practitioners and quacks to legally practice medical profession in the state, and their interests influenced the Minister's act. Since the implementation of the IMCC Act 1970, there was no legally substantiable claim for anyone to practice without recognized qualification and registration, said the association.