On November 20 , AYUSH ministry had issued a notification that has allowed the post graduates of Ayurveda practitioners to perform surgery. This step has been criticized by modern science ( IMA) sharply since then. According to them, we aren’t supposed to put patients’ safety into risk by ‘half baked’ doctors by Ayurveda.
In this blog we will analyse about the situation in detail and what the ground realities are.
Factoid regarding Ayurveda or whole as AYUSH :-
1) Is it new ? : No, as even before issuing notification the graduates of Ayurveda were performing surgery all over India especially in rural regions. Ex: In South konkan people prefered Ayurvedic doctors for surgery over MS qualified surgeons because of their phenomenal work at “low costs “. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has appointed Ayurvedic surgeons to many of their hospitals.
2) Is Ayurveda totally vanished from modern science ? : No, A procedure called ‘kshar sutra’ used for anal fistula was described in Ayurveda texts and has been incorporated in modern medicine.
Benefits of Ayurveda :-
1) In India to become an MBBS, You are required to submit Rs 1 crore in the private sector. So Ayurveda would provide an alternative way to become a surgeon to common Indians.
2) It would reduce the doctors to patients ratio especially in rural India. As allopathic doctors were not willing to serve in rural India, which is now a chronic issue.
3) Today there is a large workforce including surgeons from Ayurveda who found an issue of Identity. So by giving them the right training, pay and identity, we could add huge talent in our basket. It would enable us to save hundreds of lives.
Concern regarding safety :
1) We can’t ignore the fact that surgery is intricate in nature and sometimes becomes inextricable. To become surgeons you are required to go through arduous training for years. You have to always adhere to regulations such as the consumer protection Act.
2) So skilling of graduates of Ayurveda is imperative and a topic of scrutiny mainly in the initial phase. Pragmatically we have to set up a system which would teach some basics of modern science to graduates of Ayurveda that are essential in surgery .
We need a resolute approach to give birth to Indian Ancient system of medicine. As one can’t deny the fact that “Sushruta ” is the father of surgery. He did that before the embarking of modern medicine. He also describes the process in “Sushruta Samhita ”.
Conclusion : Today many people prefer Ayurveda over allopathy even though they have money to go for treatment in allopathy.
We have to tap the gun of our potential as this initiative could help us to improve our health sector and prompt the world to follow us.
Even if it is not a panacea for all problems, it has its own importance.
Ensuring patients safety at affordable cost(even for poor as many times they prefer to die because of dearth capital) is the duty of the government. Government also has to focus on increasing government hospitals and government. Universities.
