The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday, February 7 opposed Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij's reported proposal of teaching MBBS students Ayurveda, terming it as "mixopathy" which will backfire and put the nation's health care delivery system into total peril.

Mixing of systems will also ring the death knell of Ayurveda, the association commented. "IMA opposes mixopathy in all its forms. Hybridisation of medical education to bring out compromised doctors will backfire on the nation and put its health care delivery system into total peril," they added.

The regulation of medical education is governed through the Parliamentary enactment titled National Medical Commission Act, 2019 as of now, upon repealing of Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. As such, no state government is in any manner entitled to meddle with the medical education of the country on its own as education including medical education is not a subject included in the State List in the seventh schedule appended to the Constitution of India, the IMA said.

"Resultantly, the said statement of the Minister is unconstitutional, unfortunate, and unwarranted," the IMA said. The association also added that they regard Ayurveda as ancient medicine and would prefer to preserve its tenets and traditions in its purest form.

"China is the only country which practises integrative medicine. China is certainly not our model in healthcare. Due to integration CTM (Chinese traditional medicine) has been decimated and is no longer practised in its pure form. Safeguarding the purity and legacy of Ayurveda will enrich our traditional medicine. Mixing of systems will ring the death knell of Ayurveda," the association added.