Reacting to the comment made by the IMA that the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) should develop their own surgical disciplines based on their ancient text books and not claim the surgical disciplines of modern medicine as their own, the former EC member of the CCIM, Dr D Ramanathan from Kerala has said that all the 58 (39+19) surgery procedures have been there in the ‘Sushruta Samhita’, the ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery.
“Surgery has always been a part of the ayurvedic treatment and discipline. When it was deprived of the treatment methods and not seriously treated as a subject of practical study in the specialized courses of Ayurveda, the system itself has lost its importance and the growth has gone into reverse. The surgery part in the discipline is meant not merely for the information of a practitioner, but it is for practice by the medical practitioners,” said Dr. Ramanathan who is also the managing director of the Kerala based popular Ayurvedic Specialty Hospital, Sitaram Ayurveda Pharmacy.
CCIM, the national regulator of the Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM), through a gazette notification on November 20 allowed specialized post graduates (MS) in Ayurveda to perform 39 general surgery procedures (based on Shalya Tantra) and 19 procedures involving eye, ear, nose and throat (based on Shalakya Tantra), both are categorized under ophthalmology and ENT in modern medical science. This notification was made after amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (post graduate Ayurveda education) Regulations 2016.
The amendment says that specialized Ayurveda practitioners (MS) would be given practical training to independently perform the enlisted surgery procedures.
Hailing the CCIM and the Union Ayush Ministry for the notification issued to legalize surgery in Ayurveda treatment, the veteran Ayurveda physician from Kerala where Ayurveda is a mainstream medicinal treatment, has said that the Indian health system requires a symbiotic relationship between ancient and modern treatment methods without making any claims that would do harm to anyone. According to Dr. Ramanathan every medical practitioner of this country, irrespective of modern or ancient systems, has the moral responsibility as an Indian to promote Ayurveda which is the ancient medical science developed in India thousands of years ago. He said the permission given for performing surgeries are all for minor ones and most of them are benign tumours.
Urging the Indian Medical Association to withdraw its allegations against the age old system of the country, Dr Ramanathan said the Ayurveda post graduates who are specializing in specific streams of treatment (MS and MD) are awarded certificates by eminent medical or health universities after a period of three years of post graduate courses. Several ISM institutions in the country have special surgery departments and operations are being performed there for a long. In that context, it becomes too difficult to understand the logic behind the IMA’s argument that permission to perform minor surgery by ayurvedic doctors is a retrograde step of mixing the systems.
Further, justifying the steps taken by the Union government and the CCIM, Dr Ramanathan who also acts as the general secretary of the Ayurveda Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI), said Sushruta Samhita cannot be sidelined from the history of surgery as the biochemistry part of modern medicine and surgery has well delineated in it. Besides, he said, several of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for the preparation of modern medicines are isolated from herbs and medicinal plants.