Ayush doctors to get allopathy training

Deccan Charonical Friday, Sep 06, 2013 | Last Update : 04:24 PM IST Ayush docs to get allopathy training Bengaluru: Following the orders from the Planning Commission, the State Health and Family Welfare Department has recommended Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to start an 18-month course in modern (emergency) medicine for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) practitioners to practice allopathy. The initiative is being taken up to upgrade and improve the primary health care system in the State. The recommendation has been sent to the RGUHS authorities, who will plan the training procedure and check its feasibility, said Madan Gopal, Principal Secretary, Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department. Meanwhile, apart from RGUHS, the State Health and Family Welfare Department is also looking at roping in more private medical universities for this course. “We have requested other private medical universities too for the same 18-month course in modern (emergency) medicine. They will have to check the feasibility and get back to us,” said Gopal. If this course takes off then it will help in ensuring that people, especially in the rural areas, get timely medical treatment. Following the shortage of doctors and specialists in the State Health and Family Welfare Department, people residing in rural areas do not have access to proper healthcare facility. Hence if AYUSH practitioners are legally allowed to take up integrated practice, then it will help improve the primary health care system in the State, Gopal said. The Planning Commission in its report has also stated that AYUSH course curricula have about 30 percent modern medicine components and that the regulatory provision are existing in some States for integrated practice by AYUSH doctors. However, it can also be cited that until 1997 Bangalore University was running an integrated course in allopathy, ayurveda and unani, but it did not call for admission in the particular course after 1997. Later, in 2012, there was a huge ruckus in the State when the State Health and Family Welfare Department had decided on to permit AYUSH practitioners to prescribe allopathy medicines during emergency.