Integrative medicine is ‘Khichadification’ of medical education: IMA

IMA has stated that mixing of systems will ring the death knell of Ayurveda. The loss of lives and suffering due to this unscientific mixing will be phenomenal.

The Ministry of Health has reiterated its resolve to implement Integrative medicine. However, Indian Medical Association has stated that integrative Medicine is better understood by the term Mixopathy which denotes mixing of all systems of medicine.

“Mixopathy has been adopted as a national policy through the National Education Policy itself. The Niti-Aayog, the highest planning body in the nation has been officially entrusted for mixing various systems of medicine in medical education, clinical practice, research as well as in Public Health and administration,” IMA said in a statement.

It has stated that Khichadification of medical education seems to be the starting point. The purpose of integrating all systems of medicine is unknown. 650 Medical Colleges in the country are turning out 99,063 MBBS doctors every year. “There is no case for pleading shortage of doctors,” the association says.

According to the IMA statement issued by Dr. Sahajanand Pd Singh National President, IMA, it is impossible to mix different systems of medicine without catastrophic fallout on patient care and safety. The contradictions are self-evident. Today Indian modern medicine doctors are adequately skilled to perform any sophisticated surgery or procedure that India is a much sought-after destination for medical tourism. Indian modern medicine doctors are the backbone of several Health systems across the world including UK, Gulf, US and Australia.

Talking about China which is the only country which practises integrative medicine. The association has stated that China is certainly not our model in Healthcare. It states: “Due to integration CTM (Chinese traditional medicine) has been decimated and is no longer practised in its pure form.”

It went on to state that safeguarding the purity and legacy of Ayurveda will enrich our traditional medicine. Mixing of systems will ring the death knell of Ayurveda. The loss of lives and suffering due to this unscientific mixing will be phenomenal. Healthcare in India will be set back by a century. The harm that will befall the nation due to mixing of systems will be profound.

It is an anti-people policy and unfortunately this has not caught the imagination of the people. All MBBS doctors will be from Integrative medicine by 2030. That means these doctors will practise and administer drugs from all systems of medicine simultaneously. There will not be doctors from modern medicine alone as we know now,” IMA statement reads.

IMA has appealed to people to understand the impact of this ill-advised decision. IMA is determined to resist this mixing of systems and expects to create public opinion against this.

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