The central government is promoting the Indian system of medicine, especially Ayurveda. New rules are being made to increase the number of Ayurveda doctors across the country. Now preparations are on to open colleges with 150 and 200 graduate (BAMS) seats.
For this, the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) has issued a draft and sought suggestions from the general public. At present, there is a rule to open only colleges with a maximum of 60 and 100 seats.
More resources will be needed to increase the number of seats to 150 or 200 or to start new colleges with so many seats. For two hundred BAMS seats, the number of patients admitted in the hospital should be two hundred and the number of patients in OPD should be more than four hundred per day.
Similarly, for the recognition of 150 seats, the number of admitted patients should be 150 and the OPD should have 300 patients per day. The number of teachers (including lecturers, associate professors and professors) should be 90 for 200 seats and 70 for 150 seats.
Right now 45 teachers are required for 100 seats. This way NCISM will not compromise on quality. After the rules are made, the major benefit will be that without opening additional colleges, BAMS seats will increase in private and government colleges across the country. Notably, there are more than 450 Ayurveda colleges across the country including 33 in Madhya Pradesh.
“Certainly, with the opening of colleges with 150 to 200 BAMS seats and increase in Ayurveda seats, the country will be able to get more than 10,000 new doctors every year. However, the Union Ministry of AYUSH and NCISM should strictly follow the norms”, said Dr. Rakesh Pandey, National Spokesperson, Ayush Medical Association.