Bhopal: Suffering from viral fever? Heart ailment? Or just an extended run of bad luck? If you are anywhere in Madhya Pradesh, you can soon line up at any of these clinics and let an astrologer "diagnose" what is wrong with you.

The "out patient departments" (OPDs) will be run by the state-owned Maharishi Patanjali Sanskrit Sansthan (MPSS) and anyone can avail the services of an astro-expert by paying a nominal fee of Rs 5.

“Like OPDs where junior doctors work under the supervision of seniors, aspiring astrologers will be assisted by experts in dealing with cases in the astro OPDs,” says Madhya Pradesh Patanjali Sanskirt Sansthan director PR Tiwari.

The astro-experts, who are trained in vedic karmakanda, palmistry and vaastu, will go through the horoscope - janam kundli - and figure out the patient's health problems.

The first one of these OPDs is expected to come up in September at the Yoga Centre at Shivaji Nagar. The MPSS will later establish similar OPDs at its 138 Sanskrit schools in the state.

The faculty members hired by the government-run Sansthan will also train students for diploma courses in astrology, vaastu and purohitya. "The juniors will learn from the helping the seniors, the same way a junior doctor learns from assisting their seniors at OPDs," says Tiwari.

The project is the idea of School Education Minister Vijay Shah who wants Madhya Pradesh to be the "land of qualified astrology and vaastu experts".

But there are many who are not enthused at the idea of a state-run institution using public funds to promote astrolgy.

"It’s nothing but RSS agenda to oblige their own people,” says Vyapam whistleblower and former physician at MY Hospital Indore, Dr Anand Rai.

Dr Lalith Shrivastava, Patron, MP Medical Association, says astrology has no place in medical science. "The astrologers are coming now, and the tantriks will soon follow,” he says.