THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has disallowed bogus practitioners, without having requisite qualification and registration, to practice the Indian System of Medicine in the state. The verdict came after a petition filed by Kerala Ayurveda Paramparaya Vaidya Forum and others challenging the earlier High Court judgement refusing to allow them to practice. The apex court pointed out the petitioners had failed to show that they possessed requisite qualification for registration entitling them to Indian System Medicines.
Their names have not been entered in the appropriate registers under The Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act, 1953 as well as the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970. Only the practitioners whose names are entered in the appropriate registers and who possess certificate of registrations under the above Act, are allowed to practice. The court pointed out that the government had been vigilant all along to stop quackery. A number of unqualified, untrained quacks were posing a great risk to the entire society and playing with the lives of people.
The court said the scarcity of qualified medical practitioner was previously quite large since there were very few institutions imparting teaching and training to doctors, vaidyas, hakims etc. The position has now changed and there are quite a good number of medical colleges imparting education in various streams of medicine.
The government counsel argued that the modus operandi of such practitioners in Kerala was to register an association under the Societies Registration Act or the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, with an objective to enroll members and to issue certificates in order to enable them to practice Indian System of Medicine in the guise of 'Paramparya Vaidyas'. In most cases there is no tradition for any of the members of such registered association and most of them continue in the field of practice with bogus certificates, degrees and diplomas.
