The Indian Medicine 'Mixopathy'
Blending ideas and inspiration works wonders.
Mixing memory and desire stirs imagination but
coupling Allopathy and Ayurveda can be painfully punishing. In plain
terms it is like fusing chalk with cheese.
If the country’s medical fraternity
has been in ferment at the Narendra Modi- led BJP government’s pre-occupation
with ‘mixopathy’, Gujarat went through a tense last week after the health
department of the state government called a meeting to discuss ‘practice of Allopathy
by those who have studied Ayurveda’.
‘Mixopathy’ is a loosely coined
term used to describe the integration of alternative medicine systems, such as
Ayurveda, with modern medical science which is also called Allopathy. The
term is a combination of the words "mix" and "pathy", which
means disease.
The turmoil began after the Health
Department of the Gujarat government issued a latter on December 27 calling for
a meeting of senior officials and representatives of the Gujarat Board of Ayurveda,
Gujarat Council of Homeopathy, Gujarat Medical Council, and Unani System of
Medicine. The meeting to be held on January 3 under the chairmanship of
Principal Secretary Dhananjay Dwivedi was called to discuss the issue of
allowing doctors trained in Ayurveda to practice Allopathy.
As information of the proposed meeting
became public, it unleashed a storm of protests with the Gujarat branch of the
Indian Medical Association (IMA) venting it’s spleen at the move. It’s
president Dr Mehul Shah urged elected representatives to uphold the sanctity
and harmony among different medical systems and refrain from supporting the
concept of’ mixopathy’ or shortcuts in medical education and practice.” The
blending of various medical systems into a single practice, poses severe risk
to public health and undermines the integrity and expertise of each medical
system, compromised patient care and a public health crisis. Consider long term
implications of such decisions and strengthen each medical discipline’s
educational and professional standards rather than dilute them through
amalgamation”, it said. The Gujarat unit of the IMA has termed the practice of
’mixology’ as unlawful.
As numerous medical organisations
joined the protest which showed signs of proliferating, the government beat a
hasty retreat, advanced the meeting by a day and announced that ‘mixopathy’
would not be allowed. Also, that under the Clinical Establishments Act only
those practicing Allopathy would be registered while those practicing other
disciplines would have to register under their respective bodies. The crisis
building up stands diffused for the time being but the last has not been heard
in the matter.
The pre-occupation with the ancient as
witnessed in the ‘monumental’ turmoil unleashed in the quest for subterranean
structures has other dimensions to it as well. The BJP government at the Centre
is burning the candle at both ends in its bid to resurrect traditional medicine
systems and fusing the old with the new in medical education through a spanking
fresh coinage called “integrative medicine”. It is this integration that is
being vehemently opposed by the Indian Medical Association. ” Integrative
medicine is a threat to patient care and safety and ‘mixopathy’ Is a health
catastrophe in waiting”, the national president of IMA Dr. R.V. Asokan, is on
record stating.
The IMA has already voiced its
apprehension on the “integrative MBBS course wherein students of modern
medicine will be learning traditional medicine systems. Hybridized medical
education will produce compromised doctors
and imperil the healthcare delivery system”, it says.
Notwithstanding the vehement
opposition, the Narendra Modi- led BJP
government which came to power in 2014 set up the Centre for Integrative
Medicine and Research at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIMS),New
Delhi in 2016 besides the AYUSH-ICMR
Advanced Centres for Integrated Health Research in four AIIMS in the country.
AYUSH stands for Ayurveda, Yoga
and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. These are medical systems
practiced in India that are based on ancient medical philosophies.
The Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and
Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) was established to focus on
research and education in these systems.
Meanwhile medical organisations are
aghast at the recent Maharashtra government (FDA) move allowing homeopaths who
have undergone a certificate course in modern pharmacology to prescribe
allopathic medicine. Earlier in 2014, the Maharashtra Medical practitioners Act
was amended allowing homeopaths to practice Allopathy after passing the
approved course. The Maharashtra unit of the IMA is set to challenge it in
court. ”How can a certificate course replace an MBBS degree for authorization
to prescribe allopathic medicine”, a senior Ahmedabad doctor questions.
Interestingly, in April 2023, the
Supreme Court had obliquely answered this question when it set aside a Gujarat
High Court order which held that Ayurveda practitioners working in government
hospitals are entitled to be treated at par with doctors with MBBS degree and
should get equal pay.
“By the very nature of the science
that they practice and with the advancement of science and modern medical technology,
the emergency duty that Allopathy doctors perform and the trauma care that they
provide cannot be done by Ayurveda doctors. Same goes for complicated
surgeries. Therefore, even while recognizing the importance of Ayurveda doctors
and the need to promote alternative/indigenous systems of medicine, we cannot
be oblivious of the fact that both categories of doctors are certainly not
performing equal work to be entitled to equal pay”, the apex court ruled.
So, while medical bodies remonstrate and the government of the day demonstrates its resolve to pursue Integrative Medicine (IM) as an approach to medical care, the rest can only keep their fingers crossed.
After all, flaws can be fascinating but delusions devour !
https://odishapostepaper.com/edition/5179/orissapost/page/8
https://epaper.lokmat.com/articlepage.php?articleid=LOKTIME_NPLT_20250109_6_5
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