The Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI), a Kerala based body of Ayurveda doctors, has taken objection to the Central Council of Research in Ayurvedic Science (CCRAS)'s decision to start a siddha medical care unit at the government Ayurveda medical college complex at Thiruvananthapuram.

The AMAI will soon approach union health ministry and the Ayush department to cancel the CCRAS' decision.

In a circular, CCRAS has directed the college authorities to allow a portion of the newly constructed building to set up facilities for starting one Siddha Medical care unit. According to sources, the new building was constructed by the central agency to start a mother and child care hospital as annex to the Ayurveda college.

Opposing the move of the Council, AMAI secretary Dr Rejith Anand said the association will conduct state wide agitation against the CCRAS move to start Siddha wing in the college as it will affect the Ayurveda system in the state which is known to be the hub of Ayurveda. According to him, a new building was constructed at the college compound with the financial aid of CCRAS for the purpose of establishing research facilities in gynaecology and paediatrics in Ayurveda.

He further said that there was assurance from the CCRAS earlier that the building would be utilized for Ayurveda research and to develop a hospital for specialties alone. The association wants the government to persuade the central council to withdraw from its latest decision to start the Siddha division at the college complex,  or else, they will be forced to hold strong agitations involving students and teachers against the move of CCRAS. The building has the facility for 35 IP beds, out of which 12 beds are earmarked for Siddha.

In Kerala, Siddha system is taught at the Santhigiri Siddha Medical College in the state capital, an institution under private sector. The students coming out of this college are going outside looking for opportunities. Only a few Siddha dispensaries are working under the state health department.

Responding to the decision of AMAI, Dr V Arunachalam, the Principal of Santhigiri Siddha Medical College, said CCRAS’s decision is for integrating the two systems. AMAI’s objection to the move will not fetch any good result, rather it will adversely affect the growth of Ayush systems in the state. Even in Tamil Nadu, several medical colleges are conducting the course of Ayurveda and the government hospitals are running ayurvedic clinics also, he said.

Coming down heavily on the decision of the Ayurvedic doctors in Kerala, Dr T Thirunarayanan, secretary of Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR) said the Aringar Anna Hospital of Indian Medicine at Anna Nagar in Chennai is having all the facilities of Siddha, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy and Unani. Even one floor of the Siddha Research Institute at the complex is set aside exclusively for Ayurveda. If Tamil Nadu can support and foster the Ayurveda system, why not the neighbouring state Kerala can do it, he asked.