AYUSH Ministry to clamp down on permits to state govts for opening new colleges until 2021

Kolkata: Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) has decided not to give permission to the state governments to open any AYUSH medical college and hospital for the next two years.

The Centre, however, claimed that the move has been made to carry out a comprehensive drive to enhance existing infrastructure of the AYUSH medical colleges.

For the next two years, the AYUSH Ministry will not accept any applications from any state government. The director of Ministry of AYUSH has already written to the chief secretaries of the states in this regard.

State governments need to take no-objection certificate from the Centre for setting up an AYUSH medical college. The Union ministry has also decided not to construct any medical institutions under its fold for the next two academic years, as they will concentrate more on the development of existing infrastructure of all these hospitals. In a recent notification issued by the Ministry of AYUSH, all the state governments and universities have been urged not to give consent of affiliation to any institution which is under construction.

The restrictions will be imposed only for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. The Centre has also requested the states not to receive any fresh application, as the Centre would not entertain any such application.

According to sources, there are around 626 AYUSH medical colleges across the country, among which around 17 are in Bengal. According to the ministry of AYUSH, there are areas which require some infrastructural revamp and hence it is the priority of the ministry to put in place adequate infrastructure so that people coming to the hospitals can avail best quality treatment.

The ministry, during its inspection of colleges, will examine and assess if they maintain the prescribed standards. There will be a reform in the education system at all the AYUSH medical colleges in the country. According to the sources, the reforms will improve the quality of education, which will have an impact on providing quality healthcare delivery system rendered by the AYUSH system of medicine.

The existing AYUSH medical colleges will, however, be able to admit candidates in various undergraduate courses for the next two academic years. The admissions will be made only through the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

The notification also mentions that AYUSH National Teachers Eligibility Test is to be conducted for appointment of all teachers in AYUSH institutions and an unique verification code for such teachers will be allotted before their appointment.

The main purpose of the initiatives is to bring transparency and improvement in the quality of all the AYUSH institutions. The ministry also takes up initiatives to achieve standards in AYUSH medical education in the country.