The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Maharashtra, with its 50,000-plus members, will hold a one-day strike on Thursday against the state government’s fresh notification on the registration of homoeopathy practitioners who have completed the Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP).
Earlier this year, the state government directed the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) to register homoeopaths who had completed the one-year CCMP, allowing such practitioners to prescribe modern medicine to patients in some cases.
The IMA is opposing CCMP-qualified homeopaths’ registration with the MMC, saying the move is a serious threat to the safety of patients.Strike leaders claim there will be disruptions in healthcare services in Mumbai and across the state, saying they have been forced to the wall through the myopic, agenda-driven and dangerous decision.
Dr Rajeev Agarwal, president, Association of Medical Consultants
In an interview, Dr Rajeev Agarwal, president of the Association of Medical Consultants (AMC), which has 16,000 specialists and super specialists as its members, decodes the strike. AMC Mumbai has offered unconditional support to IMA, Maharashtra.
Excerpts from the interview:
The IMA has called for a strike on Thursday. What kind of strike is this?
This is a one-day strike, and we plan a shutdown of all medical services, including emergency services, across private hospitals in the city and the state. At least services in small and medium-sized hospitals will be closed, and so will Outpatient Departments (ODPs). Since the government claims infrastructure is adequate, those experiencing an emergency or needing urgent care will be referred to the nearest government hospitals. This is a fight for our existence and for patient safety.
What has sparked a call for this action?
We have no problem with homoeopathy or any other ‘pathy’. Yet, there is a problem when they are pushed together with allopathic medicine, which the government is trying to do here. Homoeopathy is patient-centric and patient-specific. This means that if patients A and B both have fevers, they may get different medicines. This is what I mean by patient-specific. In allopathic medicine, we treat the disease and the symptom. So they cannot come under this ‘pathy’. The specific teaching of the subject is totally different. An MBBS student studies for at least 5.5 years, while homoeopathy students attend class once a week for one year for the CCMP course. We also know that some homoeopaths have been prescribing allopathic medicines, which is illegal. We did demonstrate some opposition to this earlier but never took to the streets.
The government claims there is a shortage of doctors in the rural areas.
Allopathy doctors have to do one year of rural service after completing their studies. The truth is that there is no infrastructure to admit so many doctors. There are no vacancies for doctors in rural places. Doctors who have finished their studies are on the waiting list to complete this mandatory rural posting. The basic agenda is a backdoor entry of homoeopathic practitioners into the allopathic field. In fact, the government is considering scrapping the one-year compulsory MO [Medical Officer] ship for MBBS students.
What other problems do you anticipate with this ‘mixopathy’, as it has been termed?
There will be legal problems. How can a doctor belong to two councils? The Maharashtra Medical Council and the Homoeopathic Council? In case of any accusation of negligence, each council will pass the buck. Besides, the National Medical Commission, the overarching body, has a very clear definition of allopathic doctors; by that definition, they do not fit in. How will a patient know who is a homoeopathy doc and who is an allopath? By this yardstick, even nurses and pharmacists know some medicine. Should they too be allowed to practise as allopathic doctors? We will see hatred for doctors in the future if this is allowed. A lot of medico-legal cases will come up, and most importantly, it will be the patients who will suffer.
What support have you got for the strike?
This matter is sub judice, so what is the hurry of registering them? The matter is in the high court. If we do not see any results of this strike, we will need to escalate the matter with a march to Azad Maidan, an andolan… we will see about the final decision. We have been getting a lot of support from NGOs, GPA and from medical teachers, students and parents of allopathic students and several associations. We want the public to support us too, by becoming aware of the problem, speaking out, and raising questions and concerns on forums available to them, like social media for instance.
50,000
No of doctors expected to join the agitation
