Delhi High Court issued notice to the Centre on PIL seeking an integrated medicinal system

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the center on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to adopt the India Holistic Integrated Medicinal approach rather than the colonial segregated way of Allopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy to secure the right to health.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla on Tuesday had issued a notice to the Union of India through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Ayush, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Law and Justice and said that the respondents should examine the prayer made in the petition.

The plea sought direction to implement a Holistic Integrated Common Syllabus and Common Curriculum of Allopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy for all Medical colleges to secure the right to health.

The petitioner, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, practicing lawyer and BJP leader submitted that despite huge investment, the current health care system in India is not able to meet its standards and benefits the Indian population to fight against acute and chronic diseases.

Health care delivery in India is classified under three categories primary, secondary and tertiary care. All three levels need to work cohesively to help deliver healthcare on all four pillars.

The petitioner submitted that in the healthcare system in India, sub-centers and primary health centers subsidize the primer level of HCS; although hospitals and medical colleges are considered in the tertiary level of HCS.

The petitioner further submitted that on September 15, 2020, in Rajya Sabha on the question of availability of doctors per capita, the Minister of State, Ministry of Health and Family welfare said that as per information provided by the Board of Governors in suppression of Medical Council of India (MCI), 12,55,786 Allopathic doctors are registered in MCI.

Assuming 80 percent availability, it is estimated that around10 lakh doctors may be available for active service. It gives a doctor-population ratio of around 1:1500 as per the current population estimate.

“There are 7.88 lakh Ayurveda, Unani, and Homeopathy (AUH) doctors. Assuming 80 percent availability, it is estimated that 6.30 lakh AUH doctors may be available for service and considered together with allopathic doctors, it gives a doctor population ratio of around 1:1000,” the plea stated.

“To establish an integrated medicinal system, the government has already made certain amendments to enable these provisions to become a part of health care policies. But so far adopted strategies are not sufficient to provide an adequate platform for an integrated medicinal approach. Therefore, it is mandatory to make appropriate amendments to legalize the status of the integrated medicinal system,” read the plea.

The matter has been listed for September 8, 2022.

Case Title: Ashwini Upadhyay v. Union of India