The AYUSH Ministry on Sunday, 22 November, issued clarifications over the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations 2020, saying that “the notification is specific to 58 specified surgical procedures and doesn’t allow Shalya and Shalakya PGs to take up any other surgeries”, reported ANI.
The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) in its gazette notification allowed Ayurvedic PG passouts to receive formal training for such procedures.
The development indicates the growing emphasis on traditional medicine under the Narendra Modi government.
The training modules for surgical procedures will be added to the curriculum of Ayurvedic studies, as per a new gazette notification.
The development has come after the CCIM amended Indian Medicine Central Council (PG Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, to include the regulation to allow the PG students of Ayurveda for practising the general surgery.
“No, this notification is a clarification of the relevant provisions in the previously existing regulations of 2016. Since beginning, Shalya and Shalakya are independent Departments in Ayurveda colleges, performing such surgical procedures,” it said.
“While the notification of 2016 stipulated that the students shall undergo training of investigative procedures, techniques and surgical performance of procedures and management in the respective specialty, the details of these techniques, procedures and surgical performance were laid down in the syllabus of respective PG courses issued by CCIM, and not the regulation per se,” it added.
“The present clarification was issued in the overall public interest by CCIM by bringing the said details into the regulation. Hence this does not signify any policy shift.”
On the controversy around the use of modern terminology in the notification, the Ayush Ministry said that it has not received any comments or objections about the use of modern terminology in the said notification.