Madhya Pradesh not opening OPDs with astrologers, govt calls news ‘absurd’

Madhya Pradesh denied on Monday news reports that state government hospitals had been ordered to have astrologers in out-patient departments, calling the speculation “absurd”.

State health minister Rustam Singh said the government had made no such decision and denied even a discussion on the issue had taken place.

“Media persons using the information on OPD in government hospitals should have taken care to at least talk to any government authority to know if the information they were having was correct,” he added.

His denial came after news reports quoted an official of the government-run Maharishi Patanjali Sanskrit Sansthan who said ‘astrologers and soothsayers’ would consult with patients suffering from various diseases in OPDs of state-run hospitals.

“I am amused at the news. This is absurd, unfounded and it is not possible at all,” said principal secretary (health) Gauri Singh.

Maharishi Patanjali Sanskrit Sansthan director PR Tiwari said the scheme was limited to a yoga centre in Bhopal where people could consult astrologers and vastu experts that might not be related to health but other things such as marriage, education or jobs.

”It will not be an OPD but a consultation centre,” he said.

Sansthan deputy director Prashant Dolas said the Yoga Centre was already giving advice to people how to cure diseases with the help of Yoga.

“We will add astrology and vastu to it. Astrology and vastu are established sciences. The idea of giving advice to people by astrologers and vastu experts of Sansthan came as we are going to run diploma courses on these two subjects from September onwards. There is no government decision as such,” he said.