A statement made by the general secretary of the Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI) during an interview with Pharmabiz that the skill for drug manufacturing is lacking among the new generation ayurveda graduates has evoked mixed responses from the traditional physicians community.

While the state ayurveda drugs controller, Dr N Vimala, hailed his comments partly, the secretary of the Chennai based Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR), Dr T Thirunarayanan has commented that it is not necessary for the graduates to become manufacturers as they are physicians who are primarily meant for treating patients. However, he said it is the discretion of the graduates to become physicians or manufacturers, for the latter, they can get training from industry.

“Clinicians need not necessarily get trained in manufacturing. Those interested may gain experience separately. Regarding modern science in curriculum, basic sciences like anatomy, physiology etc are common and needed”, he said.

Agreeing with Dr Ramanathan’s comments, Dr N Vimala said the central and state Ayush ministries should think of starting a post-graduate level diploma course in drug manufacturing of all streams of Ayush. This will help those graduates who want to go for manufacturing of medicines.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ramanathan, the general secretary of AMMOI, has become a subject of criticism among the ayurveda community in Kerala for his two comments.

Disagreeing with his points, the chief medical officer of the ayurveda hospital in Alappuzha, Dr. Roy B Unnithan, said Aachaaryas in the ayurveda system had recommended that during each course of period the followers of the traditional systems must try to learn new knowledge from the science based healthcare systems. He said it is not advisable that the learners of ayurveda should confine in ancient books only. But he favoured the point that drugs manufacturing skill of the new generation is lacking, and as a panacea, he said a consortium of industry doyens should be formed to train the graduates on how to manufacture classical drugs.

The principal of the Kottakkal Arya Vaidyasala, Dr M P Eswara Sarma said the skill of manufacturing traditional medicine should be updated and it should be purely hygienic to the contemporary level. For that, new techniques have to be acquired.

Dr Sreevals Menon, managing trustee of the Global Homeopathy Foundation, Kozhikodu and former national secretary of the Indian Homoeopathic Medical Association (IHMA), said many of the new generation graduates who have accepted Ayush systems out of genuine interest and are in no way inferior to older generations. There are always students who come in for medicine as an earning career with no commitment. So, the statement of AMMOI secretary is true as far as they are concerned. However, there is no point in generalizing and creating a sensational statement.

Regarding his second comment on curriculum amendment, Dr. Sreevals said he agrees with his point. “Education should be inclusive as well as exclusive for a greater depth and perception of the field, it can add value and at the same time help innovation and dedication. Polypharmacy and access to all streams simultaneously make the Ayush physicians a lot weaker in his domain and less relevant,” he pointed out.

Dr Rejith Anand, secretary of the Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) an organisation of practising ayurveda doctors, said Dr. Ramanathan’s comments are of his association only and they are not worth for responding. According to information received, Dr. Rejith’s ayurveda hospital in Kollam district is procuring medicines from Dr. Ramanathan’s company.

Dr Arul Amuthan, coordinator at the Center for Integrative Medicine and Research, Manipal University, has agreed with the points of AMMOI. He said no siddha doctor is able to make a drug in the siddha system. Regarding syllabus of study, he said basic knowledge about other medical systems in syllabus can alleviate many false beliefs about other systems and improve the traditional medicine practices.  

Dr D Ramanathan pointed out he has the anxiety over the future of generic drugs in ayurveda (classical) due to lack of skill among the new generation graduates.