The Supreme Court decided on Monday to examine a plea by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against a Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) order authorising post-graduate practitioners in specified streams of Ayurveda to be trained to perform surgical procedures.
A Bench led by Chief Justice Sharad A. Bobde issued notice to the Ministry of Ayush, CCIM and National Medical Commission.
The IMA has moved the top court to quash the amendment to CCIM regulations. It argued that CCIM did not have the powers to include surgery in Ayurveda syllabus.
The notification by the CCIM has listed 39 general surgery procedures and around 19 procedures involving the eye, ear, nose and throat by amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016.
According to the November 20, 2020 gazette notification, the procedures listed include removal of metallic and non-metallic foreign bodies from non-vital organs, excision of simple cyst or benign tumours of non-vital organs, amputation of gangrene, traumatic wound management, foreign body removal from stomach, squint surgery, cataract surgery and functional endoscopic sinus surgery.
Advocate V.K. Biju, for the Ayurveda Medical Association of India, said it was universally accepted that Ashtanga Ayurveda has dealt with surgery for centuries.
