MBBS-BAMS Integrated Course at JIPMER to span over 5 years

New Delhi: The proposed integrated MBBS-BAMS course at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, will be a degree course spanning more than five years- including a one-year internship leading to the dual degrees, an RTI reply has revealed. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the announcement of India's first integrated MBBS and BAMS course at JIPMER, Puducherry, was made by the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and AYUSH, Prataprao Jadhav, on May 27. The proposal for this course was prepared by Auroville Foundation. As per the latest media report by the New Indian Express, the proposal states that the syllabus for phase 1 is ready, and it has been prepared on the competency-based curriculum (CBME) proposed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), which regulates the medical education, medical professionals, institutes and research in India. Reportedly, the integrated course will be a degree course spanning more than five years. Under the NMC Act, 2019, NMC, the Central Council of Homoeopathy and the Central Council of Indian Medicine are required to have a joint sitting at least once a year, to "enhance interface between Homoeopathy, Indian Systems of Medicine and modern systems of medicine", and "approving specific educational modules or programmes that may be introduced in the undergraduate course and the postgraduate course across medical systems and promote medical pluralism." Allapathic doctors have been strongly objecting to Government's plan of combining MBBS with BAMS. Recently, the Indian Medical Association strongly criticised the attempts being made to unscientifically mix different systems of medicine, adding that "We respect all systems of medicine and strongly opine that we need to preserve the purity of each system." Referring to the plans of the MBBS-BAMS integrated course at JIPMER, the association said, "JIPMER would no longer remain an institute of national importance if such an unscientific step is taken." Even though the Union Minister had announced the proposed integrated course, JIPMER refused to share any details of the course with Dr. KV Babu, who filed the RTI in this regard. When JIPMER was asked to share the details of the proposal to the integrated medical course combining MBBS and BAMS, and the communications between JIPMER and the Union Health Ministry/AYUSH Ministry/NMC regarding the proposal, it said that such records and communications were unavailable and therefore could not be provided. Auroville secretary Dr Jayanti S Ravi, who acknowledged in her January 25 letter that discussions were held over the last several months with Dr V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog; Dr Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH, and others, had also failed to share comments on the integrated course with the Union Health Ministry despite repeated reminders.