Bridge course row: Homeopathy doctors carry out a rally against NMC for scraping bridge course

For the last three days, nearly 1000 homeopathy practitioners who have staged an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan, against the National Medical Council bill’s amendment to scrap bridging course for AYUSH doctors to practice allopathy, carried out a rally from J J Hospital to Azad Maidan on Wednesday.

When Mumbai Live contacted Dr. Pravin Shingare, Head of Directorate of Medical Education and Research, he said that they have approved this course in the state. He further said that the central government will decide if the same course should be implemented across the nation or not.

This is the third day of our hunger strike and yet the state or central government has not given a decision on the bridge course. We carried out a rally to reach out the state government,” Dr Prakash Rane, Members, All India Homeopathy Doctors Federation.

According to Rane, there are around 65,000 homeopathy doctors in the country. He said, usually, homeopathy doctors work in rural and tribal areas but most of the times, Ayurvedic doctors refrain from working in rural areas. 

He added that while providing medical treatment in rural areas, it becomes necessary to prescribe allopathy medicine. He also said that when other doctors call for a strike, it is homeopathy doctors who shoulder the responsibility of providing medical treatment to the people and hence bridge course is need of the hour and the same should be implemented across the nation.