Doctors of the Tiruchi Branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday closed down outpatient services and abstained from elective surgeries from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in protest against the recent government notification allowing Ayurvedic doctors to take up certain surgeries. While they claim that the move is regressive, the protest is also meant to raise awareness among the public, who will be directly affected by it, they said.
The government notification issued on November 20 stated that postgraduate Ayurveda medical students must be “practically trained to acquaint with, as well as to independently perform” a list of 58 surgeries, including general surgery, orthopaedic, dental surgeries and ENT surgery. The IMA has opposed the move, questioning their competence to do so. The government is attempting creating a dangerous lateral entry, said R. Gunasekaran, president, Tiruchi IMA.
The notification, the doctors believe, was to increase the number of practising doctors, especially in rural areas, and in states with a shortage, such as Maharashtra and Bihar.
M.S. Ashraf, former national vice-president, Indian Medical Association, said that any surgery required team work, taking calculated risks and quick decisions which comes from experience. “An anaesthetist, a surgeon and a nurse are all important in this process. There needs to be pre-operative care, regular consultations, post-operative care and infection control,” he said.
The doctors questioned the nature of drugs which may be put to use, whether it would be Ayurvedic, and if it was allopathic, would the Ayurvedic doctors understand the combinations of medicines. The doctors recommended increasing of medical infrastructure, and creating centres of excellence instead of these “short-cut methods” to increase the number of doctors. The government must also increase the number of postgraduate seats in medical colleges, they said.
Besides, causing harm to the patient, ‘mixopathy’ could also kill practices like Ayurveda and Siddha, they added. “If an Ayurvedic doctor wants to become a surgeon, let them create a quota within NEET allowing their entry. We will support and guide them but with this new method, we expect a larger burden of complicated cases,” Dr. Gunasekaran said.
Coimbatore
Thousands of doctors and hundreds of private hospitals participated in the 12-hour strike across Coimbatore district on Friday in response to the call of the IMA as part of the agitation against ‘mixopathy’.
The IMA called for the withdrawal of non-essential and non-COVID-19 services from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday. While in-patient services such as intensive care units and critical care units functioned, out-patient services were affected. According to the State secretary of the IMA, Tamil Nadu branch A.K. Ravikumar, about 350 private hospitals and 2,500 clinics were closed for 12 hours in the city as around 4,000 doctors participated in this strike. Some of the doctors also staged a demonstration outside the IMA Coimbatore branch office on Syrian Church Road at 10 a.m., he said.
Doctors in government hospitals from the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA) wore black badges on Friday condemning ‘mixopathy’. TNGDA State Secretary and Coimbatore District President N. Ravishankar said around 380 doctors at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and around 200 doctors at Government Medical College and ESI Hospital wore black badges throughout the day. However, no services were withdrawn in government hospitals. “We are supporting the causes of the IMA,” Dr. Ravishankar said.
The agitations condemned the proposal by the NITI Aayog to integrate all systems of medicine such as AYUSH and modern medicine into one system, dubbed ‘mixopathy’. The IMA also demanded that the Central government withdraw the notification that could allow Ayurveda graduates to perform 58 kinds of surgeries.
Secretary of IMA Tiruppur zone, Rajkumar Nallathambi said that about 120 private hospitals and several clinics were closed as part of the 12-hour strike in the zone, which comprises Tiruppur, Palladam, Avinashi, Kunnathur and Uthukuli, as 650 doctors participated.
