SC lifts stay on Homeopaths / Ayush using Modern Medicine for treatment. IMA expected to appeal
A Supreme Court order has dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) seeking to restrain Ayurvedic and Homeopathic practitioners from prescribing allopathic medicines. In June last year, the Maharashtra Government had given its approval to the bill that allowed homeopaths and ayush doctors to practice allopathy after a one-year bridge course in pharmacology.
The IMA had moved a petition against this rule and gotten a stay, which is now overruled. The concerns raised by IMA and the Modern Medical fraternity in general was that there is no logic in allowing AYUSH practitioners to prescribe modern medicines. The biggest concern is patient safety. There is no doubt that in the hands of AYUSH practitioners and Homeopaths, there will be misuse, especially of steroids, antibiotics and analgesics. It is also ironic that the people who have now been given permission to prescribe allopathic medicines are the ones who thrash modern medicine at every opportunity they get.
Let us hope IMA will fight back on this.
