Doctors claim that anti-quackery letter issued by tainted Medical Council of India officer has ruined careers of Unani and Ayurvedic medicine practitioners

Docs threaten MCI with legal action

Doctors claim that anti-quackery letter issued by tainted Medical Council of India officer has ruined careers of Unani and Ayurvedic medicine practitioners

National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) is all set to take on the might of Medical Council of India (MCI).
Upset with MCI's apathetic attitude towards taking action against a member involved in writing a bogus-anti-quackery letter with an MCI letterhead, NIMA council members have threatened to file a police complaint if MCI doesn't pull its socks. NIMA comprises of Ayurvedic and Unani medicine doctors.

On August 10, a circular was issued on letterhead of MCI and forwarded to all state governments. It said that integrated medicine was a fake term under which Ayurvedic and Unani doctors practiced Allopathy and that there was no such term.

It asked the state governments to be vigilant against those quacks that claim to practice integrated medicine and take action against such people.

But many state governments have upheld the right of integrated medicine practitioners to practice Allopathy. "When we asked MCI using an RTI application regarding this circular, they replied that it was bogus and that the MCI letterhead was misused. If this is true, we want MCI to take action against those who did this act," said Dr Mandar Ranade, Pune-based joint secretary of NIMA's central council. "After the circular was sent to states, many doctors have faced severe harassment."

"In places including Beed, Solapur, Latur and others, many doctors have faced inquiries and are being termed as quacks even though they hold legitimate degrees. In other states like Jhansi, criminal cases of quackery are being lodged against doctors based on this circular. This issue is getting serious by the day yet the MCI has not done anything knowing that their letter head was misused," added Ranade.

NIMA's central council is meeting in Delhi in December to discuss this issue. If not resolved by MCI till then, the council plans to lodge an FIR against MCI and its staffers for what they term as a grave injustice to qualified doctors.

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