Karnataka govt agrees to pay Ayush practitioners on par with allopathic doctors

Bengaluru: The state government has agreed to increase the pay of Ayush doctors on the lines of remuneration offered to allopathic doctors serving in government hospitals on contract basis.

The decision was taken at a meeting health minister B Sriramulu held with doctors and others staff of the Ayush department on Tuesday.
Ayush stands for Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and homoeopathy.

Ayush doctors working on contract draw a monthly salary of Rs 24,000 as against Rs 40,000 paid to allopathic practitioners. At the meeting, officials also decided to provide scholarships to undergraduate and PG students of Ayush, besides hiring doctors from this field through a direct recruitment process. A similar process is followed in the case of allopathic doctors.

Sriramulu’s intervention will ease dissatisfaction among Ayush practitioners, who are up in arms against the state government and threatened to launch a bigger protest.

The proposed salary hike follows directions from the central government. The state health department will place the proposal before the cabinet.
Ayush doctors claim that they have played a vital role in the efforts to prevent Covid-19, and also support conventional care via the allopathic system.

“We don’t claim that Ayush system has a specific cure for Covid-19, but there are different techniques and immunomodulatory herbs to improve general immunity, which should help in handling the disease better,” said an Ayush practitioner. “The government must support our work and treat us equally.”

Source: Times of India