In what comes across as one of the most casual appointments, the government of Maharashtra appointed an Ayurvedic practitioner as the Registrar of Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC). The appointee Dilip Wange is a professor at an Ayurvedic college. And as a Registrar of Ayurvedic council took charge as Chief Executive Officer of the council.

The medical council mostly deals with modern allopathic medicine and its practitioners. And Dilip’s appointment as CEO sparked the FTII like protest. It is valid that the medical fraternity in Maharashtra is condemning the appointment of the Ayurvedic practitioner as they have been fighting to make the medical body independent and autonomous, and the officer in discussion has a complete conflict of interest.

And above all the medical fraternity would like to have an MMC registrar who is of their ilk, understands finer points of modern allopathic medicine, and is familiar with quackery, enquiry procedures of the council, code of medical conduct in Goa and other issues involved in medical education.

Dr Jayesh Lele, president of the Maharashtra wing of the Indian Medical Association, told media, “It is shocking that the government has appointed a registrar who is from the Ayurveda field, when the MMC has been fighting against crosspathy (Ayurveda and Homoeopathy practitioners prescribing allopathy medicines). This is a clear ploy by the state government to get its own people in the medical body that has been functioning without government interference.”

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