Intensifying their protest against the Centre's order to train post-graduate practitioners in specified streams of ayurveda in general surgical procedures, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for a non-cooperation movement, asking the surgeons and anesthesiologists to not cooperate in training the AYUSH practitioners.

The apex association of modern medicine practitioners also said that it will submit a list to the Union government of 1,000 modern medicine doctors to willing to serve in any remote areas of the country. "This is done to counter the false claim of lack of doctors which is cited as a reason to promote mixopathy," IMA President Dr J.A. Jayalal said.

The IMA had started a pan-India relay hunger strike from February 1 which concluded on February 14. "It was our first step towards 'Save Healthcare India Movement' which was initiated this month. We are going to intensify it further with a next stage of non-cooperation," Dr Jayalal added. The whole exercise by the IMA is to push for immediate withdrawal of the Centre's order which, the association claims, is impractical, unscientific and promotes "mixopathy" of different streams of medicine.

Last year, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) amended the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, to allow PG students of ayurveda to perform a variety of general surgery including orthopaedic, ophthalmology, ENT and dental through notifying an amendment in a gazette notification issued in November. The latest amendment allows PG ayurveda students to receive formal training for such procedures. The training modules for surgical procedures will be added to the curriculum of ayurvedic studies. This move has drawn a lot of criticism from the doctors of modern medicine which also result in a series of protests the country witnessed last December, called by the IMA.

"We have categorically expressed our righteous say against this extremely serious move to allow AYUSH postgraduates to perform 58 surgeries. The government policy of mixopathy of all systems is unethical in which the mutually unrelated in principles & mode of operandi are integrated unscientifically together as a one system. IMA opposes strongly the proposal to make single doctor practicing all systems together. The association has raised valid & simple questions arising out of this Mixopathy notification," the IMA stated.