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Senior doctors across the country have expressed regret over the recent move by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Authority (FDA) to allow homeopaths who have completed a certified course in modern pharmacology to prescribe allopathic medicines.
The decision was taken two months ago, but the final order was issued recently.
The state government had on June 25, 2014, issued a notification to amend the Maharashtra Medical Homeopathic Practitioners Act, 1965, allowing homeopathic practitioners to practice allopathy after passing an approved course.
RV Asokan, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said the Maharashtra IMA would move the court against this order. “What can we say when governments ignore the health implications of such decisions? Mixopathy and crosspathy are both wrong. Whatever governments do, they pass with impunity. “We have created such a tolerant atmosphere,” he said.
Public health activist Babu KV added that although the amendment allows homeopaths who have passed a certification course to prescribe allopathic medicines, the order appears to have been passed in a hurry.
“FDA’s decision is not in accordance with the 2016 court order based on a written petition by Pune IMA. (We) want it to be set aside,” he said.
Rajeev Jayadevan, Director, IMA Laboratory, Kerala, said the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) curriculum is the global standard for the training required to prescribe modern medicines, adding that homeopathy is based on a continuum of medicine. said. Principles and beliefs that are incompatible with and unsupported by the evidence-based framework of modern medicine.
“Prescribing modern medicine should only be done by those who have completed an MBBS and are qualified to practice modern medicine.A certificate course cannot replace the depth and breadth of an MBBS degree. Doctors should not prescribe homeopathic or ayurvedic treatments as they have not received the recommended training,” he said.
Doctors said there were global standards in medicine and warned against lowering standards by introducing shortcuts such as certification courses and “mixed disorders”.
issued – January 1, 2025 7:48pm IST
