Dr. Jayesh Lele, general secretary of the Indian Medical Association, revealed that there is no shortage of qualified doctors in the country. Criticizing the government’s move to create non-MBBS doctors, he stated that the plan will backfire on the center as there will be no well-versed doctors in modern medicine left in the system.

The revised draught of the national education policy for 2019 recommended sweeping changes in the medical education sector, such as allowing a homeopathy doctor to appear for NEET exams after completing a six-month course in allopathy, bringing him on par with MBBS students.

The largest lobby of allopathic doctors revealed that the IMA has written several letters to the health ministry and the National Medical Council (NMC) opposing lateral entry where ayurvedic or homeopathic practitioners can be given entry into postgraduate courses, such as post-graduation (MD) in surgery.

Additionally, he commented that the government should not blame the pharma-doctor nexus; instead, they should fix the problem of self-prescription by implementing strict rules to prevent selling medications without an invoice. He also advised that the government should also implement strict action against objectionable advertisements promoting ayurvedic and traditional medicines to cure diabetes, AIDS, cancer, and other chronic ailments.