Modern medicine, AYUSH docs clash over Kerala Public Health Bill

Doctors of Modern Medicine and doctors under AYUSH (Indian Systems of Medicine) are set to clash over the new Kerala Public Health Act, 2023 with both sections claiming that the Act is ‘unscientific” and that it leaves room for much apprehension.

AYUSH doctors have already approached the Governor, Arif Mohammed Khan, demanding that the new Public Health Act needs to be more inclusive as it totally leaves out AYUSH practitioners from the sphere of public health

Representatives of the Vishwa Ayurveda Parishad, who met Dr. Khan on behalf of the AYUSH fraternity, said that under the new Act, registered practitioners of Ayurveda, Homoeo streams have been totally kept away when it comes to the treatment of infectious diseases and that the right to formulate the Standard Treatment Protocols have been given to a committee which is headed by doctors of modern medicine

They also complained that in all State/district/local committees empowered to implement the Public Health Act, AYUSH doctors have not been given a place. In the State-level committee, AYUSH Secretary or the Director of Ayurveda Medical Education have not been included

They claimed that at the district and local body-level, only doctors of modern medicine have been given importance. They also objected to the provision in the Act which gives the regional public health authority (who is a doctor of modern medicine), the right to inspect all health institutions, including AYUSH hospitals, without notice and to refer patients to other hospitals

Meanwhile, Indian Medical Association has issued a statement that they will meet the Governor, Chief Minister and the Health Minister, to apprise them of the fact that AYUSH medicine has no place in handling public health emergencies or pandemics.

At a time when there are imminent threats of new zoonotic diseases and emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases, public health can be managed only by a scientifically validated system of medicine, they claimed.

IMA has objected to the inclusion of AYUSH doctors in public health management committees, saying that public health can be managed only through globally accepted treatment protocols and standard practices in modern medicine, approved by global health bodies.

In the case of serious notifiable diseases like Nipah, COVID-19 and SARS, even though the Act suggests that treating registered medical practitioners can issue the disease-free certification, these are matters which can be decided only by globally accepted protocols drawn up by modern medicine, IMA said in its statement.