VC’s ‘surgery’ irks Indian medicine docs
The Indian medicine fraternity has launched a fresh tirade against the vice-chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University — this time for attempting to remove the term ‘surgery’ from Ayush degree courses such as ‘Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery’ (BAMS) and Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery (BSMS).
The Indian Siddha Medical Graduates Association has procured a letter from vice-chancellor Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan addressed to top health officials including Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, urging them to remove the term ‘surgery’ which is suffixed to all the degree courses.
In his letter, Dr Mayil Vahanan says, “The term “surgery” can be used only when the candidate is exposed to the training for performing surgeries on the patients. In reality, no surgery is involved in the Indian systems of medicine.”
In August last year, the state’s premier medical varsity invited trouble when a high-level committee decided to change the syllabus of Indian medicine courses by removing sections that taught modern medicine and surgery.
This move provoked protests by Siddha and Ayurveda students across the state and ended when Central Council of Indian Medicine warned the university that it had no authority to make such changes to the prescribed syllabus being followed in hundreds of colleges across India.
A case filed by Siddha doctors against the vice-chancellor has been pending in the Madurai high court since then.
Reiterating his stand on the issue, Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan says, “I wrote to all Siddha, Unani and Ayurvedia colleges in TN and asked for a list of surgeries they had performed over the past year.
There was no proper reply. I do not mean to offend anybody, but these are the facts. Practitioners of Indian medicine do not perform any surgeries and they do not have ‘ayurvedic’ anesthesia.”
“The term ‘surgery’ at the end of their degrees could be misleading. People’s lives could be in jeopardy,” says Dr Mayil Vahanan, who claims he raises these issues to protect patients.
Countering the VC, Siddha practitioners point out that MBBS graduates are also not allowed to perform surgery, but they still are called ‘Bachelors of Surgery’.
“Siddha and Ayurvedic medicine students learn all the basics of surgery too, they also have lessons in modern medicine to help them diagnose and refer patients who need immediate allopathic attention.
When I receive a patient with appendicitis, I would definitely refer him to an allopathic surgeon; and not perform the surgery myself,” says Dr Selvin Innocent Dhas, president of Indian Siddha Medical Graduates Association.
While Siddha doctors are confident that the surgeon-status would not be docked off their degrees just by the efforts of one VC, they contend that such issues would affect the confidence of students.
pursuing Indian medicine.
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