The Union Government has called a meeting of the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) to decide on the latter’s recommendation of the nine-month bridge course in allopathy for practitioners of Indian System of Medicine (ISM). The course is proposed for ISM practitioners who will be working in rural health centres and national health programmes, President of the CCIM Vanitha Murali Kumar said.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the State-level Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddi and Homeopathy (AYUSH) doctors’ conclave, Dr. Kumar said the Centre was keen on using ISM practitioners at the primary health centres. Through this course, the ISM practitioners will be trained for National Health programmes and also for providing emergency care and treatment. The government is keen on using ISM practitioners, who are around four lakh, to fill the vacant posts of doctors at the rural areas.
Dr. Kumar said a CCIM committee has already submitted the course module and recommended universities such as the Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) to offer the course and give certificates.
Earlier, eminent cardiac surgeon and Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya Group of Hospitals Devi Prasad Shetty said AYUSH practitioners should form a body at the State and National level to lobby for the bridge course in allopathy that will train the practitioners in prescribing basic medicines required in rural areas. He lamented that the need of a structured training programme as prescribed by the Supreme Court for these practitioners to enable them to prescribe allopathic drugs has not been met so far.
Inaugurating the two-day conclave, Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader proposed setting up of a AYUSH University in every State that will enable further research and growth of Indian Systems of Medicine. The State Government will take the lead by setting up an AYUSH University next year.
Mr. Khader said the government has taken steps to increase the salary of AYUSH practitioners working in National Rural Health Mission programmes to Rs. 28,000. It has also initiated action to recruit 583 Ayurvedic doctors through Karnataka Public Service Commission. The Government was setting up AYUSH outlets at each Taluk Government hospital, he said.
