Several students from different AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) colleges of Odisha met with the Minister of AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal in Delhi, Friday, September 22.
The students were represented by a delegation of nine students belonging to Homoeopathy and Ayurveda, and sought to bring to the minister’s notice the ongoing crisis. The students wrote a letter addressed to the Minister of Ayush with an objective of achieving “holistic health and health promotion by propagating AYUSH system of treatments in Odisha.”
The main demand proposed by the students’ association All Odisha Ayush Students’ Association (AOASA) which is an alliance of the two different student bodies namely Homoeopathic Medical Students’ Association (HMSA) and Ayurvedic Medical Students Association (AMSA), is the opening up of new Government Homoeopathic and Ayurvedic dispensaries constituting posts of HMOSs (Homeopathic Medical Officers) and AMOs (Ayurvedic Medical Officers) to upgrade existing system to state-of-art infrastructure and bring changes to the post graduation education system of AYUSH.
The letter goes on to address the lack of proper AYUSH hospitals that can sufficiently cater to the population and meet the requirements of the census. It states that at present, there are only 562 GHDs (Government Homoeopathic Dispensaries) and 619 GADs (Government Ayurvedic Dispensary), and they demand that the government increase the numbers.
The letter states that it has been 21 years since the government had constructed the last dispensary in the state and currently, only 1181 dispensaries serve a population of 4.5cr, that equates to 38,103 people per doctor. Hence, they demand the creation of 500 new GHD and GAD posts each and its subsequent increase in each year.
They also say that as per National Ayush Mission (NAM), the government has deemed that there should be one AYUSH doctor for every 5000 people and dedicated AYUSH hospitals in the state for every 50000 people, and demand increase in MD/MS seats and new courses pertaining to both AYUSH and modern medicine namely Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology and so on.
And lastly, the letter mentions proper utilisation of funds that are provided for the development of AYUSH medicine in Odisha.
Meeting with the minister
The student delegates of AOASA, met with AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in the presence of Jual Oram, MP of Sundergarh, Odisha, at the Transport Bhawan in New Delhi.
Dr Nishikanta Acharya, an internee at UHMC&H, Rourkela, and one of the student delegates, claimed that the Minister responded to their qualms by saying that funds are duly allocated for medicine, infrastructure and for the creation of new posts. He further added that the Minister allegedly asserted that the centre has allocated funds for an increase in the number of beds at these AYUSH hospitals but “the current state government is not responding and has submitted no such proposal about the ongoing issues that the state is currently facing.”
Dr Acharya further added that a letter signed by both of the Ministers present was forwarded to the State Government under priority basis and assured that steps will be taken to fulfill the NAM (National Ayush Mission) criteria in the State.
Doctors, at a loss.
Dr Soumya Ranjan Singh, the secretary of AOASA, says that, “We were on a strike since August 25 and this protest continued for 15 long days, in our respective colleges, even after having disagreement with the college authorities. The intensity would grow and we are even willing to go on a hunger strike until our demands are met.”
Dr Singh who is currently an intern at Dr Abhin Chandra Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital in Bhubaneswar, faces discouragement with the current scenario and claims that there has been little development in this sector and the main objective of patient care and providing good hospital facilities has been completely negated by the Government.
“I had joined the course in 2017 and there were exemplary functional laboratories and pathological centres and more functional dispensaries but after the end of my medical degree, I have seen the closure of dispensaries and no new creation of posts which is to an extent, disheartening for us all doctors.”
The doctor goes on to say how their services were indispensable when the pandemic struck but now, they are being deemed as lesser than the doctors who pursued allopathy.
Not only this, he further adds to his argument by saying that the government of India had apparently sanctioned 1075.380 crore for AYUSH Ministry for the year 2020-21 but expenses done were nil. They also do not have facilities that are provided by the government such as NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration), BSKY (Biju Swastha Kalyan Yojana), and also remarks on the lack of proper Ayurveda dispensaries in almost 115 blocks and homoeopathy dispensaries in 110 blocks when the country is actively promoting such other forms of Medicine at international forums such as the G20.
So far the students of AOASA met with the Health Minister and Health Secretary of the State, where they were promised that their file will be forwarded to the Interministerial Committee for consideration but their requisition remains dormant, hence the agitation would continue from September 25.
