Even though the Indian Medical Association (IMA) who follows the western system of medicine and is against the idea of Ayurvedic doctors to perform surgeries, the Ayurvedic doctors are very hopeful of opening economical surgery hospitals.

Dr Suresh Chohan, who is a leading ayurvedic practitioner said that the allopaths employ ayurvedic doctors in their private hospitals and also prescribe patients ayurvedic medicine. In several cases, ayurvedic doctors having BAMS degree assist the allopaths in surgeries also. The belief that ayurvedic doctors can endure for long in surgical practice is confusing. South India has several ayurvedic hospitals of almost 550 beds.

The Central Council of Indian Medicine, in November 2020 had given permission to the Ayurveda practitioners to conduct and perform certain surgeries. This had induced a sharp reaction from the allopathic community, following which the IMA started a campaign for the withdrawal of this notification. The IMA in Amritsar has even started a relay hunger strike against “mixopathy”.

Principal of Amritsar’s Shree Lakshmi Narayan Ayurvedic College, Dr Ashok K Nandwani, said that for several ages, the ayurvedic doctors have done surgeries. The students of Ayurveda perform cadaver dissection. The government’s notification will create an awareness in people about the skills present in the ayurvedic doctors. The Amritsar college is one of the oldest Ayurveda institutes and has produced leading ayurvedic physicians and surgeons.

Ancient Ayurvedacharya Sushruta had also described several surgical procedures in his text and the Ashwini Kumar as used to perform rare plastic surgeries and were known as Dev Vaidyas.

Dr Joginder Arora, All-India Integrated Medical Association’s Punjab president said that following the government’s notification, they expected that many BAMS, Master of Surgery and Shalya Tantra Ayurvedic practitioners would open hospitals in Punjab with affordable surgeries. Many of allopathic hospitals do have BAMS doctors in trauma centres and also as house surgeons. He further said that the piles or fistula surgery costs around Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 in a regular private allopathic hospital but it can be done for half the expense by experienced Ayurvedic surgeons, with the same or more accuracy.

Source: The Times of India