The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM)'s new gazette notification on minimum standards & requirement for ayurvedic colleges and attached hospitals have come in for severe criticisms from experts in the field of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unnai (ASU).

Expressing concern over the notification, experts stated that it is against the interest of the industry. Alarmed over the development, the scholars from the Institute of Post Graduate Teaching & Research in Ayurveda (IPGT & RA), Gujarat Ayurved University, have urged the government to take immediate steps to withdraw the said notification and make required amendments in the same so that it does not effect the quality and reputation of the ayurvedic educational system in the country.

In the notification, the CCIM has lowered the minimum requirement of teaching faculty to just 30 teachers in an ayurvedic college with capacity of 50 seats which had been already reduced from 43 to 35 in the last gazette. Of these only 90 per cent i.e. 27 teachers are required to run the college, this will reduce the already existing jobs by 30 per cent. Industry fears that in this case no fresh post graduate will get the job even in the next 10 years leading to unemployment in the field restricting the entry of good students in the field in future.

Further they have increased the age for retirement in the colleges from 65 to 70 years which further reduces new job opportunities for the young students. To add to their woes, the student bed ratio has been reduced to 1:1 that means only 50 beds will be required in an ayurvedic college with an intake capacity of 50 students. Of these only 40 per cent average occupancy is must, that means at any point of time in an ayurvedic college only 24 IPD patients is essential for the 180 students (60 of 3rd year, 60 of 4th year and 60 internees).

“This will make students low in confidence and their clinical approach will be completely distorted. In departments like panchkarma, stri-prasuti tantra, shalya tantra and shalakya tantra only three to four patients will be admitted at a time and interns will not get enough patient to familiarise with each procedure of these subjects and we fear that it will severely hamper the clinical exposure to the student,” an expert pointed out.

Industry sources claim that the notification was prepared without doing requisite research on the requirements of the present educational system as per the necessary standards and was drafted to please only a certain section of the industry. IPGT&RA scholars accused that CCIM which is responsible to regulate the ayurvedic educational system in the country to be involved in many activities that are of questionable nature.

“Latest gazette notification exposes the lack of expertise and knowledge of the representatives of CCIM and raises question on the eligibility and credibility of its members. The current notification will only degrade the standards of the ayurvedic education system in the country which is already in a state of shambles. Thus rather than taking a more progressive approach that has a long term vision to attract new students to this field of traditional science, CCIM is only pushing away the probable candidates interested in taking up the BAMS course with their reckless attitude,” the expert said.