Delhi docs protest 'mixopathy'

New Delhi: Doctors across hospitals in Delhi organised a protest in solidarity with the Indian Medical Association's (IMA) stance against 'mixopathy', which is what it terms a Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) notification that will allow Ayurveda postgraduates to perform allopathic (modern medicine) surgeries.

At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Resident Doctors Association had organised a protest from 12 - 2 pm at Gate 1. Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh, President of AIIMS RDA said, "About 100 residents from AIIMS, other medical staff and IMA members took part in a symbolic protest. While we did not march, there was some sloganeering and doctors held up placards in support of IMA's stance. While we have nothing against AYUSH, it will be irresponsible to allow untrained people to perform surgery. Our goal is to make the Central government aware of our position."

IMA President Rajan Sharma led a protest outside their headquarters while the IMA Medical Students' Network protested outside the National Medical Commission (NMC) in Dwarka.

All participants wore masks and following social distancing the IMA said. Three protestors also got into a confrontation with the police, who cited restrictions due to the Bharat Bandh to disband the protest.

The IMA has also asked that all non-essential and non-covid services be withdrawn, as a means of silent protest, between 6am to 6pm on December 11.

LNJP and GTB (UCMS) hospitals support the doctors' protest but did not organise any demonstrations themselves since they are both COVID-19 dedicated hospitals, the presidents of their respective RDAs said.

At Safdarjung and VMMC, the Resident Doctors' Association has called a meeting on Wednesday to discuss how best to organise an impactful protest.

Dr Shivaji Dev Barman, President of FORDA Delhi (Federation of Resident Doctors' Associations) said that this protest by no means "signifies that one form of medicine is better than the other",

but to show that "the adverse effects of intermingling of different treatment methodologies will have to be borne by common citizens who already have limited access to healthcare services".

IMA said that more than 10,000 public protests were registered across the country and the agitation is only likely to intensify in the coming days.