Around a million doctors in India went on a day-long strike amid the coronavirus pandemic to protest against a new government rule that allows practitioners of the traditional science of Ayurveda to perform minor surgeries.
Thousands of non-critical medical operations and routine consultations across the country were set to be disrupted as the Indian Medical Association (IMA) declared a decision to suspend work for 12 hours.
âAll non-essential consultations and surgeries from morning until evening on Friday were suspended, â said Rajan Sharma, the head of IMA, adding that the strike would not affect treatment to COVID-19 patients.
âThe governmentâs decision to bring in a rule that allows practitioners in specified streams of Ayurveda to be trained to perform surgical procedures trivializes the medical profession,â said Sharma. He also said that the IMA had written to the government against the new rules but was yet to secure a response.
