The health department of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, has warned 252 hospitals that their license could be cancelled for employing non-MBBS doctors in an allopathic setup.

The health department served notices to Indore hospitals for hiring non MBBS doctors, warning cancellation of license this past week. According to the law, allopathic hospitals/clinics cannot employ doctors who have not graduated in modern medicine. Yet, hospitals in Indore have assigned non-doctors major responsibilities. Reportedly, many non-MBBS doctors were given charge of general wards as well as ICUs.

Dr Sharda mentioned, “The capabilities of doctors having degrees such as BAMS, BHMS and BUMS and that of those having an MBBS are as different as chalk and cheese. Doctors who have gone through the rigors of an MBBS course would know the nitty-gritty of each and every part of the body. But a doctor who is not in possession of any such degree would have studied a completely different set of subjects and would have been trained in a very different way.” “Besides, they would not have undergone training in dissection, which makes them ill-equipped to handle ICU cases,” he said.

In 1996, one of the first reported cases of medical negligence came to light when a typhoid patient lost his life after a homeopathic doctor prescribed allopathic medicine to him. This necessitated the adjudication of the Supreme Court, which said: "A homeopath would not have knowledge about allopathic medicines and drug reactions. So, the mere administration of allopathic treatment by a homeopath would be enough proof to establish negligence."

What the law says

One basic requirement that doctors serving in ICUs need to meet is that they should be accredited specialists in intensive care medicine with a post-graduate degree in anesthesiology/internal medicine/surgery or critical care medicine.

According to regulations of Medical Council of India (MCI), employing AYUSH doctors to take care of patients in ICUs amounts to fraud and impersonification on part of the hospital, its medical superintendent, and other doctors.

All doctors who assign non-medical doctors duties despite knowing they are not trained in modern medicine are also liable for professional misconduct.

The incentive to flout rules

Dr Ram Avtar Chaudhary, All India General Secretary of AYUSH Medical Association, said there are not enough work opportunities for AYUSH doctors owing to the government's apathy. He said that since these doctors don't have enough career options, hospitals exploit the situation by hiring them at a cost far lower than that of hiring an MBBS degree holder.

Dr Babita Yadav, a member of Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, said that while the government has been dealing with an abysmally low doctor-patient ratio, AYUSH doctors should stick to their specialization and not serve in allopathic setups. The IMA and the MCI too have expressed strong displeasure that under-qualified doctors who are trained in Indian Systems of Medicine are being deputed in allopathic hospitals.

The story will be continued in Part 2: Legal aspects of hiring non-MBBS doctors in allopathic hospitals.

Namrata Gulati Sapra is a Mhow-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.