SMCH Doctors protest against Government's decision to allow Mixopathy

The AYUSH ministry has recently decided to make Ayurvedic medicine mainstream, dubbed ‘Mixopathy’. In particular, there is talk of giving the right to participate in surgery to the Ayurvedic specialists. Although no clear guidelines have been issued yet, allopathic doctors have been protesting against it since the beginning. Doctors at Silchar Medical College Hospital alongwith the rest of the country on Friday went on a three-hour partial hunger strike against the Central Government’s decision. Similarly, they will observe a three-hour fast on Saturday morning. 

The Cachar district branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) organised this demonstration at the Silchar Medical College & Hospital (SMCH) premises. The doctors gathered infront of the main building outside the hospital at 10 am. Present there were Dr. Dwijen Das, Dr. Bhaskar Kanti Nath, Dr. Sumit Das, Dr. Riturag Thakuria, Dr. Ranbir Paul, Dr. Tanushree Dev and others.

They said, “A student gets the opportunity to study medical science only after a lot of hard work, then it takes many years to develop himself/herself. Even then, by constantly working with the senior doctors, a person becomes a qualified surgeon. And a person who has only completed a two-year crash-course of Ayurvedic medicine shall enter the operation theatre and take part in the treatment with the senior surgeons, we can never accept that. Today, alongwith the rest of the country, we have also joined the protest of the doctors. The symbolic protest is going on now, but the doctors will go for a large scale protest in the future.”

They further added, “We cannot protest all day like other government departments because patients depend on us. However, doctors will take more drastic measures if necessary to keep the entire medical system safe. Our central representatives are in talks with the government and we believe the government will understand our argument.”