Assam doctors join IMA's nationwide strike against 'mixopathy'

However, COVID treatment services, emergency services, including casualty, labour rooms, and emergency surgeries, ICU and CCU services have been kept outside the purview of the strike.

The IMA has condemned the Central government's decision to allow post-graduate scholars of Ayurveda to formally practise general surgery, including ortho and dentistry. The Association has expressed stiff opposition to the mixing of the systems.

The IMA has around four lakh members and about 1,700 units across the country. OPD services are expected to be hit due to the stir.

A protesting doctor in Guwahati said, "If the doctors protest, the general public suffers a lot. We are very sorry that we are doing this. We really do not want to make the public suffer by staging the protest. The professors of medical colleges and our senior doctors have also joined us in this protest. IMA has around 14 lakh members and about 1,700 units across the country. The Outpatient Department (OPD) services in all the hospitals have been stopped."

The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) on November 22 in its notification allowed post-graduate degree holders of Ayurveda to perform around 58 surgical procedures including general surgery, orthopedic, ophthalmology, ENT and dental procedures, and surgeries.

The doctors have not only raised serious objections to it but also to the use of mixopathy because they believe that each and every variant of medicine is different and has its own identity and the amalgamation of various streams of medical science is a threat to human life and the health care system.

Many physicians and medical students are opposing the integration of various genres of medicines and are even actively protesting on social media as well.

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