On 8th December 2020, Doctors all across the nation, after a call from Indian Medical Association, protested against Mixopathy. But What is Mixopathy?
Definition of Mixopathy
According to Quartz India, “The meaning of Mixopathy, as used by the doctors, is a critical way to refer to what they see as an effort to integrate different kinds of alternative medicine systems, like homeopathy and Ayurveda, with modern medical science.”
Is Mixopathy a Medical Procedure?
Mixopathy unlike Allopathy, Homeopathy, itself was not a procedure in medical sciences. Origin of this word has a link with Central Council of Indian Medicine Notification on dated 20.11.2020. It is a statutory body under the AYUSH Ministry, Government of India.
This notification amended The Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulation 2016. It is now named as The Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulation 2020.
These new regulations allowed Post Graduate Scholars of Shalya and Shalakya to perform surgery independently. For MS (Ayurveda) Shalya Tantra (General Surgery), There is a description of Thirty Nine Procedures of surgery.
While in the MS (Ayurveda) Shalakya Tantra, Nine procedures for Eyes, Three procedures each for Ear and Nose & Two procedures each for Mouth and Dental health are discussed.
After this Gazette Notification, Indian Medical Association, The largest association of Modern Medicine Doctors condemned the move. According to them, it is an attempt to mix the knowledge, procedures and techniques of modern Medical Sciences with traditional Ayurveda.
Indian Medical Association is stating Central Council of Indian Medicine to develop their own medical procedures according to their ancient texts.
Mixopathy is a term, than coined by Modern Doctors to denote an attempt to mix various medical therapies.
What Ayurveda Said on Surgery?
We often hear about this great sage and physician of ancient India, Sushruta. He is considered as the first surgeon of India. Sushruta Samhita, his medical treatise has detailed description on various medical procedures surgery and surgical Instruments.
There is a clear description of two branches of surgery in Ayurveda. One is Shalya which is referring to general surgery. Another is Shalakya which is specific to Eyes, Ear, Nose, Throat and Teeth.
in Ayurveda, there is also description of surgical intervention in Gynecology and Obstetrics. Sushruta Itself described 60 types of upakarma for treatment of wounds, 120 surgical instruments and 300 surgical procedures.
Surgical Instruments in Ayurveda
In Ayurveda, various surgical instruments are generally knows as Shastra or Yantra. There are 101 Yantra and 20 Shastra mentioned in Ayurveda. Yantra are blunt instruments while Shastra were sharp instruments.
Is Mixopathy real?
There are issues between doctors of Modern Medical Sciences and Central Council of Indian Medicine like –
- Students of Ayurveda study prescribed books of Modern Medical Sciences.
- Surgeries are done by Ayurveda Scholars with the help of practitioners of modern medicine
- Hospitals and Ayurvedic Colleges in India are not well-equipped to carry out quality education on surgical practices.
In such circumstances, it is the duty of concerned departments and councils to aware people about Ayurveda and its surgical procedures.
When Ayurveda based on their ancient knowledge will develop itself as an established institution for Surgical Practices, Mixopathy will die its natural death.