AYUSH PHYSICIANS IN UTTAR PRADESH DEMAND BROADENED SCOPE OF PRACTICE
The Times of India
January 29, 2014, 03.23 AM IST

Lucknow, UP: Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathy doctors in Uttar Pradesh are demanding government approval for use of modern medicines in emergency situation.

So far, AYUSH doctors are not entitled to prescribe medicines of other streams and violation of the rule amounts to malpractice which could mean losing their license to practice. Under the aegis of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA), the doctors have threatened to lodge a protest if their demand was not met.

Giving more details, president of NIMA, Dr Moid Ahmed, said the Akhilesh-led Samajwadi Party government had promised to introduce an amendment in the UP Indian Medicine Act, 1939. "The request for amendment is in interest of patients. The state government representatives assured they had understood the seriousness of the matter and assured to introduce the needed amendment. Nothing has been done so far," said Ahmed.

The association informed that other states have already introduced the amendment. Maharashtra is the most recent example, they said. The ministry of health and family welfare has also approved the amendment so as to promote alternative streams of medicines.