Ayurvedic, unani doctors to strike work tomorrow

Close to 1,25,000 ayurvedic, unani and homeopathic doctors across the state will keep their clinics shut on Tuesday in a bid to voice their concerns about clinical practice in the field of alternative medicine.

Doctors practicing alternative medicine lament that they are not allowed by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to administer allopathic medication in case of emergencies, and are demanding that the state ably train them in the administration of allopathic drugs by introducing a course lasting between six months to one year.

“Although the FDA does not allow homeopaths to practice allopathy, 80-90% of homeopathic doctors are meting out allopathic drugs to patients. There is a need to streamline the mode of treatment and therefore the training of doctors is a must,” said Dr Dilip Ghule, president of the NCP doctors’ wing.

In response to the doctors’ long-pending demand to introduce a training module, the state government had proposed that all the non-allopathic doctors would be offered a short-term course in allopathic medicine which would officially qualify them to administer the drugs.

Dr Ghule said, “The proposal has been lying with the health ministry and the FDA, but we do not know of any progress on that front.”

However, the FDA maintains that they are merely following the law, and that erroneous prescriptions by such doctors are considered violations under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.