MUMBAI: Taking the war against alternate medicine practitioners a step ahead, the Indian Medical Association ( IMA ) on Sunday decided to stop training or assisting ayurveda or homeopath doctors. In what will be a direct implication, anaesthetists may have to refrain from helping ayurveda or homeopath doctors from carrying out surgeries.

Ayurveda and allopathy doctors have been at loggerheads since the former was allowed to practice modern medicine after training for a year. “The Medical Council of India Act is very clear. It says that any allopath cannot train or issue certificate of efficiency to an unqualified person. Also, an allopath cannot enable an unqualified person to perform an abortion or any illegal operation. In short, an alternate medicine practitioner has to go to a medical college in order to be qualified to perform surgeries or practice allopathy,” said Dr K K Aggarwal, secretary general, IMA. “Let them develop their own antibiotics and own protocols. Allopaths often have to treat patients with complications that are caused by botched up surgeries by unqualified doctors,” he said.

Mumbai has over 2,000 nursing homes of which nearly 25% are run by ayurveda or homeopath doctors.

