The Madhya Pradesh government is planning to set up astro-OPDs (out-patient departments) in hospitals where people will be diagnosed by astrologers.

The New Indian Express reported that the plan is to patients consult astrologers and soothsayers to find solutions to their problems. The department will reportedly have ‘qualified’ soothsayers with degrees from the state government’s Maharashi Patanjali Sanskrit Sansthan (MPSS), an institution in Bhopal.

The report says that the ‘astrologers, vastu experts, palmists and proponents of Vedic karmakanda’ will be delving into the problems of patients and visitors alike, for three to four hours twice a week with a preference for weekends. The astro-OPD centre in Bhopal will be reportedly close to the Red Cross building there.

“Like OPDs where junior doctors work under the supervision of seniors, aspiring astrologers will assist astro experts in dealing with various kinds of cases in the astro OPDs,” MPSS director P.R. Tiwari told the newspaper.

The afore-mentioned experts will reportedly be those that have been taking lectures at the MPSS for astrology, vastu and paurohitya (priesthood); courses started by the institute a few weeks ago.

Tiwari reportedly added that students from these streams would assist their professors or ‘experts’ like junior doctors assist the senior ones, with the patients paying a fee of Rs 5.

The OPD will reportedly have teams of experts and neo-astrologers who will study the planets and the horoscopes of the patients and arrive at a diagnosis. If the effort is a success, such OPDs are expected to crop up at 138 Sanskrit schools which are run by the government in the state.

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