Times of India
17 August 2010
By Pushpa Narayan
Chennai, India

Two weeks after a Madras high court ruling allowing practitioners of Indian medicine to conduct surgeries and prescribe allopathic medicines, the apex medical university in Tamil Nadu has decided to revamp the syllabus for courses in Indian medicine and remove all allopathic content from them. The university’s decision follows a backlash from the Indian Medical Association and allopathic practitioners in the wake of the judgment.

The HC order was partly based on the argument that siddha and ayurveda doctors are taught to carry out surgeries since their curriculum includes anatomy, physiotherapy and modern pharmacology. Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice chancellor Dr Mayilvahanan Natarajan told TOI that the syllabus for courses in Indian medicine would therefore be revised to avoid the overlap between the traditional and modern streams of medicine and that the university would also challenge the judgment by the single HC judge.

Dr Natarajan has now asked the board of studies for siddha, ayurveda and unani to revise the syllabus and exclude all allopathic contents for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. While the vice–chancellor hopes to introduce the revised syllabus by next year, there is likely to be opposition from the associations of practitioners of Indian medicine. They have said they would approach the varsity pro–chancellor and health minister MRK Panneerselvam, and chancellor and state governor Surjit Singh Barnala to stall the efforts.

Dr Mayilvahanan told TOI, “In some streams of Indian medicine, students learn more than what is taught in MBBS courses, but they don't read it in depth. Now, the board of studies is revamping the syllabus. It will introduce elements of research into the streams and delete allopathic medicine. We intend to update the syllabus with recent advancements in their own streams, like new drugs and treatment methods,” he said.