The Mumbai-based People Health Organisation (PHO), a medico social organisation dedicated towards prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, has also joined the chorus against the Maharashtra government's recent decision to allow homoeopathy doctors to practice allopathy after one year’s bridge course in pharmacology.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the parent body of allopathy practitioners, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) and Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) are already up in arms against the Maharashtra government's decision on the plea that it will have an adverse impact on patient safety.

Expressing concern over the issue, Dr Ishwar Gilada, secretary, PHO, says, "It is a common knowledge that for their own treatments ministers do not go to government hospitals and if they believe that homoeopaths after a bridge course in pharmacology will turn out to be good allopaths, the ministers and legislators should give a sworn affidavits that in case of their own needs they will be treated by such doctors. The real solution to improve medical care at primary healthcare centres (PHCs) lies with better facilities to doctors, rotational duties of medical officers at PHCs, empowering nurses who are better trained in allopathy than Homeopaths to take up other clinical jobs. In Africa nurses are termed clinical officers and man PHCs."

Recently, the government of India had decided to increase annual intake of MBBS seats by 10,000 to overcome the skewed doctor patient ratio which currently stands at 1:2000.

Medical bodies are of the view that even though both the decisions, one by the Union Government to increase 10,000 MBBS seats in India and another by the Maharashtra government for backdoor entry to homoeopaths, are intended to improve doctor-patient ratio and medical reach in rural areas, the Maharashtra government should reconsider its decision for the sake of patient safety.