Support of quackery by the Indian Medical Association
- An open letter to the President. Office bearers and members of IMA
Dear Doctors,
You are all members of the Indian Medical Association which is allegedly the apex body of the members of the profession practicing evidence-based medicine. You have risen up in arms many times to protect the alleged sanctity of your noble profession. Your body is well represented by all specialties, sub specialties and super ones too covering all aspects of medical care which should be sufficient to take care of the physical, psychological, social and spiritual health aspects of the whole population which also includes your members. I would also like to remind you here of our campaigns against quackery and misleading claims of quacks etc too. Among our members, we have Dr Samaram who was the president of IMA in 2009-10 and is in full agreement with what I have said here. One of our very active members who had to lay down his life for his fight against superstitions was Dr Narendra Dhabolkar who was brutally shot dead five years ago. I could give you many more such names but I think it would be besides the point.
But, recently it has come to our notice that you have decided to start IMA Initiative for Emotional Health & Emotional Well-Being of Medical Students and Doctors in India, ostensibly considering the increased rate of mental illness and in some cases even suicides, especially in young medicos, and under its auspices, a workshop is being organised at IMA House, Bengaluru on Sunday, 8th July, 2018, comprising of presentations and orations by Isha Yoga Foundation, Banjara Academy, Laughter Yoga, and Art of Living Foundation. All the afore mentioned bodies are not having any qualification or recognition in any field of medicine. Inviting them to conduct workshops on your behalf means that you have absolutely no resources to handle such problems and hence are depending on quacks to practice medicine. If that is true it would be better on your part to close down this association and hand over your practice to these so-called ‘spiritual gurus’. Besides, IMA is also the apex body of qualified, licensed medical practitioners who are supposed to practice and support only therapies that included in the syllabus by Medical Council of India and only those registered by it or by the state medical councils. It would be useful if you kindly let us know the qualifications of the above in any field of medicine, their registration numbers with the name of the medical council and the approval accorded by the Medical Council of India to the alleged therapies practiced by them.
I also seen associated with this project the name of Dr Ajit Bhide who had recently opposed the poster of the ministry of health which had a lot of gratuitous advice for psychiatric patients including consuming vitamins, doing yoga etc. but not a word on consulting a health professional. The very same person is now promoting a ‘training program’ which is going to be conducted by quacks like Isha Yoga Foundation, ‘Laughter therapy’ etc. Wonder whether any professional bodies or standard textbooks of psychiatry and medicine have approved these. Or are these recent research findings? If so I would be glad to have the references.
I have a feeling that the whole exercise is to get some grants from the health ministry and share the spoils between these enterprises and your organization. I feel sad that the apex body of medical caregivers in the country is falling into the hands of people like you who are promoting quackery in the name of various types of yogas and such. Some years ago I remember some of your members challenging the man Ram Krishna Yadav who calls himself as Baba Ramdev and markets anything from biscuits to gaumutra. Wonder how the very same organization has sunk to the level of promoting unproven alleged ‘therapies’. These if they can be called as such would need to change the very definition of therapy!
Hope good sense will prevail upon you at least now to put a stop to such quackery that too to be practiced on medical students.
Narendra Nayak
President, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations
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