The passing of the Bill on Indian System of Medicine (ISM) empowering the Centre to regulate opening of new colleges in ISM could now lead to neglect of this system of medicine, feels a section industry leaders here.

The Bill passed by the Parliament now empowers the Centre to regulate opening of new colleges in the ISM and their courses besides increase in their admission capacity. This was possible following the voice vote for the Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill to amend the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970. The Bill according to the Government will put on par Unani, Ayurveda and Siddha systems of medicine with Allopathy.

But sources in the education sector feel that once the Centre takes over the act of a regulator, there would be a Herculean task to get a college cleared. "At present we have to go through a lot of protocols before we could start a college for imparting education in the Indian Systems of Medicine. By passing of the Bill, it would take a lot of time for getting clearances, said a source. He further adds that the Bill will also make it difficult for setting up colleges in rural areas to impart education in the Indian Systems of Medicine which would actually be a negligence on the part of the Centre since the Indian Systems of Medicine are more popular in the rural areas than in the urban areas. It will also lead to shortage of doctors in the rural areas, according to the source.

While sources agree that there would now be a streamlining of the colleges by curbing the mushrooming of such colleges, empowering the Centre to decide on the course and admission would be a deterrent to these colleges. "As such we are finding it difficult to fill up seats. There would be problems if the Centre takes charge of the same since it would be away from the ground reality," the sources pointed out.

The sources further add that it would become difficult for states which are seriously promoting the Indian Systems of Medicine to allow for colleges imparting education in Indian System of Medicine since now they would also have to ask the permission of the Centre to do so. "All the promotion activities by the state would yield no results if the Centre takes to regulating such colleges," the sources added.