IMA State unit opposes integrated allopathy, traditional medicine course

After the Indian Medical Association (IMA) at the Centre, the State unit too has expressed its strong objection to the Union government’s proposal to introduce an integrated course, which mixes Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), at JIPMER in Puducherry.

In a press note dated June 2, Monday, the IMA A.P. president G. Nanda Kishore and general secretary M. Subhas Chandra Bose said ‘‘mixopathy’‘ takes away the right of the patient to choose the care of their choice. Terming the move to mix allopathic and traditional form of medicine ‘ill-advised’ and a ‘misadventure’, the IMA said this system would only produce hybrid doctors who would be nothing more than qualified quacks.

The IMA pointed India could achieve great strides in the medical field from 1947 till date due to increasing access of the public to vaccines and modern maternal and child health care and advancements in treatment of various diseases, including cancer. The health care in the country would be set back by centuries if the government goes ahead with its decision, the IMA said.

China also experimented mixing modern medicine with the traditional one and “failed miserably”. Mixing two systems, which are incompatible, will only lead to a catastrophe, the IMA warned.

“Having failed to convince the government, the IMA has no option but to take people into confidence,” the IMA members wrote, urging the public to oppose the move unanimously.

Published - June 02, 2025 06:01 pm IST