The Union government’s plan to promote traditional medical systems and open vistas of future prospects for Ayush doctors by allowing them to use modern medical technology is unlikely to succeed as various associations of allopathy doctors are likely to block legally the ways of Ayush physicians indulging in modern medical technology and even handling cases with modern scientific methods, it is learnt.

The modern medical practitioners will challenge the decisions of the Union health ministry in various courts and finally in the Supreme Court, charging dilution of medical systems to enable Ayush doctors to indulge in quackery.

As per the views of allopathic doctors’ groups, the Ayush medical community should confine themselves to traditional systems only, and should not learn or use or handle the modern medical technology either for curing diseases or for improving their treatment methods. The Ayush doctors should consider the modern medical technology as taboo, and if any device is used for diagnosis or tests, the doctor should be treated as ‘quack’ and his entire healthcare management system should be considered as fraud or quackery. This is the latest policy adopted by the medical practitioners and exerting efforts to make the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to accept it.

As a first step, a high level group of modern medical associations from all parts of the country has started to chalk out strategies to legally prevent the government support to the Ayush community for their efforts to use modern medical techniques and diagnosis methods. They accuse the Indian Medical Association (IMA) for its silence over many issues concerning the exclusive rights of allopathic doctors.

While communicating with one another in this regard through an online medical discussion forum, various associations of different branches of modern medicine share the view that there is consistent onslaught on modern medical system by ‘Ayush lobbies’ including NIMA (National Integrated Medical Association) and supported by the Union government. They are also concerned about the formation of the central Ayush Ministry which may bring in more reforms to modernise the traditional healing system.

The reason for the sudden provocation of the medical practitioners is due to the changes made to the draft bill for Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment by the union government recently, and it is likely to be brought into the Parliament in the current session. The changes were made to allow the Ayush doctors to conduct non-invasive abortions. This step of the Union government has provoked the modern physicians and has become a subject of discussion in the national level.

The medical intelligent and medico-legal advisor to the Indian allopathic medical community, Advocate Dr. MC Gupta, the former faculty of AIIMS, New Delhi alleges that the support and promotional schemes adopted by the Union government is happened due to the dead silence of the IMA. While blaming the association for its deep slumber on serious issues, he says that IMA had not opposed legally certain provisions in the Clinical Establishment Act 2010 at various possible stages prior to its notification. Likewise, when several state governments, especially government of Maharashtra, issued notifications in 1992 allowing ‘vaids’ and ‘hakims’ to practice allopathy, the Indian medical association kept silence over it.

Dr Gupta has given advice to his medical fraternity, especially to the Indian Medical Association, to take immediate legal steps against this decision of the government and file anti-quackery writ petitions (WPs) in various High Courts charging practice of allopathy by Ayush doctors in violation of laws and Supreme Court judgments.

He opines that such petitions will form a solid background for preventing government from going ahead with the plan of diluting the MTP Act in favour of Ayush and even nursing personnel. It will also help IMA to get the support of all Parliamentarians against the proposed amendment. The anti-quackery writ petitions will also help for filing petitions against the proposed amendment (MTP) at an appropriate time, Dr Gupta informed his medical fraternity.