Why Ayush medicine? IMA opposes mixing of Ayush with MBBS in internship

A draft for a new internship practice for MBBS doctors, proposed by the National Medical Commission, has mandated that MBBS graduates will have to undergo a mandatory one-week elective posting in any Ayush medicine branch -- Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Homeopathy, Sidhha and Sowa-Rigpa. The Indian Medical Association has taken objection to the draft and said mixing modern medicine with traditional one will result in mixopathy, an issue that the association of the doctors has been fighting tooth and nail.

There are many other branches of modern medicine that can be included in the internship like family medicine, bioethics etc., instead of incorporating a completely another system for a week. The IMA has written to the National Medical Commission and expressed its full opposition to the proposal.

After four years of medical education, an MBBS graduate has to undergo one year of internship. "Internship is a period of what you have learned will be practiced since medical graduates have no options of learning Ayush in the undergraduate period it is not appropriate for him to come and practice in Ayush. IMA wants the purity of the system to be maintained and not mixing up," IMA president Dr Jayalal said.

In February, the association launched an agitation against the proposal of mixopathy where a single doctor will practise all medicine branches. It said that mixopathy is not good for the healthcare system as the doctor practising all branches of medical science will lack in-depth knowledge of any particular system of medicine.

During IMA's clash with Patanjali Ayurved, it reiterated the point and opposed the Uttarakhand government's decision to include Coronil in the Covid-19 kit saying that it will again be 'mixopathy'.