Now, Ayurvedic Doctors Can Perform General Surgery

Picture courtesy Medical Tourism Magazine

New Delhi: The Central government  has allowed Ayurvedic Post Graduate (PG) students to practise general surgery alongside orthopaedic, ophthalmology, ENT and dental.

The Centre amended the Indian Medicine Central Council Regulations, 2016, to introduce formal training in the above mentioned procedures as part of the curriculum for post-graduate students of shalya (general surgery) and shalakya (diseases of ear, nose, throat, ENT, eye, head, oro-dentistry) specialisations.

A gazette notification read, “The PG scholar of Shalya and Shalakya shall be practically trained to acquaint with as well as independently perform the activities so that after completion of the PG degree, he/she is able to perform the procedures independently.”

The notification also said students will be trained in two streams of surgery and will be awarded titles of MS (Ayurveda) – Shalya Tantra (General Surgery) and MS (Ayurveda) -Shalakya Tantra (disease of eye, ear, nose, throat, head and oro-dentistry). The training modules for surgical procedures will be added to the curriculum of Ayurvedic studies.

The decision will allow Ayurveda practitioners to legally perform procedures such as skin grafting, cataract surgery, and root canal treatment.