Date:12/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101252550500.htm

New Delhi

Indian Medical Council objects to Karnataka order

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

To allow ayurveda practitioners to provide emergency health care

“The relaxation allowed to save patients”
IMA to file a case in the Supreme Court against the order

NEW DELHI: The Indian Medical Association has objected to the latest order of the Karnataka Directorate of Ayush allowing ayurveda practitioners to provide emergency health care to patients using allopathic medicines and mode of treatment.

The “relaxation” for prescribing allopathic medicines and mode of treatment was allowed in a bid to save patients during medical emergencies.

However, IMA Anti-Quackery Cell head V.N. Sharma said: “We will be filing a case in the Supreme Court against this latest order. The Supreme Court order does not allow ayurveda doctors to dispense allopathic drugs and treatment and we believe that this rule crosses the limit and laws laid down for medical practice in the country. We cannot have rules that are being bent and misused without keeping patient care and safety in mind.”

According to a report, the move follows repeated requests from the Karnataka Ayurveda Doctors and Practitioners’ Association.

“The article that alerted us to this development noted that the present rule does not permit prescription of allopathic drugs by the ayurveda doctors. It added that with Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and Punjab having included a provision, Karnataka could also go ahead and do the same,” said Delhi Medical Council member Anil Bansal.

Checking quackery

“The IMA has been trying to curb quackery and even in Delhi we are struggling to cope with patient load that fall victim to these unscrupulous elements. This latest move will allow many alleged ayurveda doctors to provide allopathic medicines and treatment which can prove fatal at times. The justification for this latest relaxation is that it is necessary to enable ayurvedic doctors to undertake life-saving measures at least till the patient is referred to secondary or tertiary medical centres at rural areas. This we believe is no solution to lack of doctors in rural areas. The Government has to bring in good initiatives to ensure that allopathic doctors are available to patients and that they don’t have to do with ayurveda doctors who are prescribing allopathic medicines. The country needs quality doctors who can look after its urban and rural population, no stop-gap arrangement will do in this case,” added Dr. Bansal.