The state will lose as many as 36 postgraduate seats in Unani medicine this year too with the government failing to recruit teaching staff. The Central government didn’t allow admission into PG Unani medical seats last academic year as the Government Nizamia Tibbi College lacked sufficient teaching staff. The state will lose the seats this year too as there are no signs of recruitment even as the new academic year is about to begin.
The Nizamia Tibbi College is the only government college in the state that teaches unani medicine and it’s the premier unani college in South India. Hakeem Musaddiq Khundmiri, secretary general, Indian Medicine Practitioners, said according to the Central Council Indian Medicine Act stipulation, the unani college doesn’t have the required facilities to run the PG courses.
The college was sanctioned five post-graduate courses like pharmacology fundamentals, Gynaec-ology, General Medicine and Hygiene in 2008, but since then the government hasn’t recruited required teaching staff. “While other systems of medicine were running the courses with the necessary quota of staff, the Unani medicine branch is being neglected. When the college needs around 70 teaching staff it’s had only about 50 teaching staff for the last five years,” says Hakeem Musaddiq.
Last academic year, when the Central Council of Indian Medicine authorities inspected the college, they found out that the college lacked facilities like adequate staff. So they stopped permission for running the PG courses. It’s been a year since then and the government hasn’t done anything to improve the facilities. “The inspection team from CCIM is yet to come to the college. We will try our level best to get the permission this year,” said Dr Sri Vasuki, commissioner, AYUSH.
When asked whether the government had recruited any staff within a year, the commissioner admitted, “So far we couldn’t recruit any staff. However, we will take the necessary steps.”
The state of Unani medicine in the state is pathetic, adding to the apathy of the college.