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KSRPA urges Ayush Ministry to abolish independent state councils to curb fake medical certificate rackets
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Nandita Vijayasimha, Bengaluru
August 17 , 2026
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The Karnataka State Registered Pharmacists Association (KSRPA) has now called for abolishing of independent State Councils/Boards of the Indian System of Medicine. This is in a bid to tackle the racket of fake medical certificates which is rampant and a serious concern in the country.
In this regard, KSRPA has made a representation to the Ministry of Ayush and the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) to mandate uniform central laws under NCISM to establish State NCISM Branches, and curb fake medical certificate rackets.
We make this representation to bring to your immediate attention a critical matter regarding the administration of the Ayush (Ayurveda, Unani, Yoga, Siddha and Homoeopathy) also referred to as the Indian System of Medicine across the country. Although India operates under a federal structure, the regulation of medical practice and education demands strict, centralized, and uniform control to protect public health and safety, said Ashokswamy Heroor, president, KSRPA.
Currently, various state-level independent councils and boards operate under separate state acts. This fragmented structure has led to severe administrative loopholes, corruption, and the proliferation of fake medical practitioners, he added.
To this end, our key concerns and demands are that to shut down the independent state councils/boards. Here we need to see that all separate state-level boards, councils, and their independent state acts must be permanently abolished. The usage of names like ‘Council’ or ‘Board’ at the state level should be discontinued, said Heroor.
Instead, the government now needs to look at the establishment of State NCISM branches. All existing state regulatory bodies should be restructured and function purely as state branches of the NCISM under direct central supervision, rather than operating as independent entities.
The need of the hour is to formulate a uniform central legislation. Here, a single central legislative framework and a set of rules governed by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine should apply uniformly across all States. Also, all States may only create basic administrative regulations as permitted under Central guidelines, he said.
Another issue to be tackled is to curb fake certificate rackets. In states like Karnataka and across the nation, thousands of unauthorized certificates such as hereditary practitioner certificates, AUB (American University of Beirut) certificates, etc. have been arbitrarily issued to fake and unqualified practitioners without proper verification, Heroor pointed out.
We now call for a nationwide audit and investigation. Here a comprehensive high-level assessment and audit must be initiated to verify all existing registrations and certificates issued by various state bodies to purge fake practitioners from the system, said Heroor.
Further, the KSRPA president also urged the Ministry of Ayush and the NCISM to initiate immediate legislative and policy reforms to merge all state medical infrastructure under a unified NCISM framework.
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