Half-baked doctors can't be allowed in AYUSH courses; SC upholds regulations for all India test

The Supreme Court has said minimum prescribed standards cannot be lowered for those studying Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathy streams as they would also come out as doctors to treat patients.

The top court ruled that it can be mandatory for the students to appear in all India National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and secure the minimum percentile for admissions to undergraduate courses like BAMS, BUMS, BSMS, and BHMS and postgraduate courses.

“Doctors who are qualified in Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathy streams also treat patients and the lack of minimum standards of education would result in half-baked doctors being turned out of professional colleges,” a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta said.

The court rejected a batch of appeals and writ petitions questioning the validity of regulations prescribing minimum 50th percentile for general category candidates and 40th percentile for Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes and Other Backward Class candidates for undergraduate courses and other similar rules for postgraduate courses.

A number of students as well as institutions contended that the NEET was not structured for Ayurveda and other courses as it was introduced for the MBBS and BDS courses only after amending the provisions of the Indian Medical Council Act, and Dentists Act.

The Union government, for its part, pointed out that the provisions of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 conferred power on the central council to make regulations and prescribe minimum standards of education in Indian medicine, required for granting recognised medical qualifications by Universities, Boards or medical institutions in India.

The court also did not agree to a submission that there would be non-availability of eligible candidates for admission to AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy) undergraduate courses, saying it cannot be a reason to lower the standards prescribed by the central council.