More than 1 lakh doctors on strike across Maharashtra today; emergency services won’t be hit
More than 110,000 doctors across Maharashtra will go on strike today to protest against the Centre’s notification authorising post-graduate practitioners in specified streams of Ayurveda to perform general surgical procedures. As a part of a nationwide protest, all non-essential, non-Covid and out-patient department (OPD) services at hospitals in the state will be withdrawn from 6am to 6pm. However, all emergency services, including casualty, critical care, intensive care unit (ICU), Covid-19 care, emergency surgeries and labour room, will function as usual.
General practitioners, specialists, resident doctors and medical students will take part in the demonstrations across the country.
According to a statement issued by the Maharashtra branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), around 15,000 MBBS students from 36 medical colleges and 10,000 postgraduate students, too, will participate in the demonstration. The agitation is supported by 34 specialist organisations, which include the Federation of Gynaecologists (FOGCI), Maharashtra Surgical Society, Physicians Association of India, Indian Association of Paediatricians, Indian Dental Association, Association of Colorectal Surgeons, Indian Radiological and Imaging Association, among others.
The Centre’s notification, which has spared the row, was issued on November 20, in which the Central Council of Indian Medicine authorised a post-graduate in Shalyathanthra and Shalakyathanthra to perform 58 general surgical procedures, which include general surgery, urology, surgical gastroenterology, ENT, ophthalmology and dental medicine, among others.
“Just by giving some Sanskrit names, Ayurvedic doctors can’t perform surgical procedures. A doctor spends years to gain expertise before operating on any patient. Also, they need approval from and registration with the Indian Medical Council. To raise awareness about the issue among people, we have decided to stop non-Covid, non-essential services on December 11 between 6am and 6pm. But it won’t affect emergency services,” said Dr Avinash Bhondwe, president of IMA, Maharashtra. “If an inexperienced doctor operates on a patient, it is like playing with the person’s life.”
The IMA has termed it “mixopathy” practice, “which can increase calamities”, as per a statement released by the association. “IMA is not against Ayurveda, our contention is, such mixing of different pathies will be detrimental to the patients and Ayurveda will not grow,” reads the statement issued by IMA.