Mumbai: The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) and the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) urged NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule to intervene urgently against the state government’s decision to grant registration in the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) to BHMS doctors after completing a one-year Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP).
In a meeting held recently, representatives of MARD and FAIMA presented what they termed a serious and immediate concern to Sule, underlining that the CCMP course was originally introduced only as an academic upskilling programme for homeopathic practitioners. They stressed that, at the time of its launch, there was no decision to allow CCMP candidates to be registered under the MMC.
The associations argued that allowing homeopaths to register after a short bridge course compromises patient safety. They pointed out that doctors completing CCMP lack adequate training in critical areas such as diagnosis, emergency medicine, and management of complications, which puts patients’ lives at risk.
Further, MARD and FAIMA warned that equating a one-year bridge course with the rigorous MBBS programme, which includes five years of medical education followed by three years of residency training, would undermine the standards of modern medicine.
The groups also highlighted that the government’s move violates existing legal and constitutional safeguards. They noted that the proposal contradicts guidelines laid down by the National Medical Commission (NMC) and goes against Supreme Court rulings prohibiting cross-pathy. The decision, they said, could also infringe upon Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality, by equating two fundamentally different systems of medicine, and Article 21, which upholds the right to safe healthcare.
“Such measures not only devalue the allopathic profession but also erode public trust in evidence-based modern medicine,” representatives told Sule. They warned that the inclusion of inadequately trained practitioners in the MMC could have long-term consequences for the healthcare system in Maharashtra.
MARD and FAIMA have requested Sule to escalate the issue in Parliament and push for policy-level intervention to roll back the proposal. They maintained that while academic exchanges and knowledge enhancement are welcome, granting registration in the MMC to non-MBBS doctors through a short bridge course is “dangerous and unacceptable.”
