The telephone in the office of the principal of the Government Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital, Mysuru, has been ringing incessantly ever since the Common Entrance Test (CET) rank list for admission to professional colleges in the State was announced on Monday.
“Several students, who are unable to make it to MBBS courses, explore getting into Ayurveda colleges as a second option,” said Sathyanarayan Bhat, the college principal. The Government Ayurveda Medical College in Mysuru is India’s first Ayurvedic college, established in 1908.
The college with an intake capacity of 49 students had students with a CET rank of as high as 600 last year, Dr. Bhat said.Several students enrol for the course, which runs for a duration of four and a half years in addition to a one-year internship. During internship, students are paid a stipend of Rs. 15,000.
‘Unethical practice’
Dr. Bhat decried as “unethical” the habit of Ayurveda practitioners prescribing allopathy medicine. “They are the ones, who resort to short-cut methods. Either they have not studied ayurveda properly or do not trust the form of medicine,” he said.
“Ayurveda practitioners who prescribe allopathic medicine, do not deserve the sympathy of either the public or the government,”he said.
Dr Bhat also sought to make it clear that Ayurveda was a “preventive” form of medicine .
Dr Bhat said he has been permitted by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciencies (RGUHS) to take up research jointly with allopathic experts for the treatment of terminally-ill patients.
Besides, postgraduate students of Government Ayurvedic College had taken up research with students of allopathic medicine in the area of managing hyper cholesterol and obesity.
Several students who are unable to make it to MBBS courses explore getting into Ayurveda colleges as a second option.
Sathyanarayan Bhat
Principal, Government Ayurveda Medical College, Mysuru
