Doctors across Maharashtra went on strike last week. They were protesting a State move allowing homeopathic doctors to prescribe modern medicines after completing a one-year bridge course. The Bombay High Court's intervention ended the strike, but the underlying dispute remains unresolved.

The protests began after Dr Neha Siddharth Pawar became the first homeopathy practitioner in Maharashtra to be registered with the State's allopathic Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC). This opened the door for others who have completed the State's Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP) to do the same.

What does the 2014 Maharashtra amendment allow, and why was it introduced?

A Separate Register, But Near-Equivalent Rights: the 2014 amendment to the Maharashtra Medical Commission Act lets homeopaths who complete a one-year bridge course register with the body that regulates allopathic medicine, in a separate register. In practice, this grants them near-equivalence to MBBS doctors.
The Amendment Remains Sub Judice: the amendment has been under legal challenge since it was passed, and the matter is still before the court, which has not granted an interim stay.
The State Registered Dr Pawar Under Legal Obligation: the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors says officials privately indicate neither the MMC nor the current government favours the step. But the government could not act against its own law without a court order.
2014 Statement of Objects and Reasons: the government's official reasoning for the 2014 Bill cited continuous public demand to let homeopathic practitioners use allopathic medicines, framing it as necessary to achieve "Health for All."
10,000 CCMP Graduates, Mostly Urban: the National Commission for Homeopathy points out that of the roughly 10,000 people who have passed the CCMP course, most are from bigger cities. This raises doubts about whether they will practise in the small towns and villages that actually lack fully qualified doctors.

How does this compare with training standards and the legal position elsewhere in India?

Common NEET-UG Entry, Different Core Training: admission to both modern-medicine and homeopathy courses goes through the same national test, NEET-UG, and both share subjects like anatomy, physiology, pathology, and biochemistry.
Tridosha Theory vs Evidence-Based Pharmacology: modern-medicine students are trained in evidence-based pharmacology and treatment. Homeopathy and Ayurveda students instead study subjects such as the law of similars and Tridosha theory.
Poonam Verma vs Ashwin Patel: the Supreme Court came down on a homeopathic doctor who prescribed allopathic medicine, in a case that led to the patient's death.
Dr Mukhtiar Chand vs State of Punjab: the Court held that a person registered under the Register of Indian Medicine has no scope to practise allopathy.
Ayurveda's Narrower, Time-Bound Exceptions: some States, including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, already let Ayurveda practitioners prescribe a limited set of allopathic medicines for common ailments like fever and diarrhoea at primary health centres. This is possible because modern pharmacology is already part of the Ayurveda curriculum. Central rules allow this only for a narrow, time-bound requirement, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic — not the open-ended permission Maharashtra has now granted homeopaths.

Conclusion

The dispute remains before the Bombay High Court. Resident doctors, the national homeopathy body, and past Supreme Court rulings are all lined up against Maharashtra's approach. State officials, though, frame the move as a practical response to India's shortage of doctors in rural areas.

Madhya Pradesh has already asked for a similar arrangement. A doctors' association leader has also warned the move could leave some practitioners registered with two different medical councils at once, which current rules do not allow.

Mains Angle

GS Paper II — Social Issues: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health; human resources for healthcare.

Practice question: "Maharashtra's move to let homeopathic practitioners prescribe allopathic medicine after a bridge course has triggered protests from modern-medicine doctors. Critically examine the arguments for and against such 'mixopathy', and discuss alternative approaches to addressing doctor shortages in rural India. (250 words)"

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