Chennai: The Madras High Court ruled that institutionally qualified Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy practitioners are eligible for practicing allopathy along with their system of medicine. However, they cannot practice allopathy exclusively.
On Friday, Justice RMT Teeka Raman citing a TN government circular in October 2010 said, as per a report on Times of India, "In the light of the circular, it is imperative that no proceedings can be initiated against any of those registered practitioners in Siddha, Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani who are eligible to practice irrespective of the respective system, modern scientific medicine including surgery, anaesthesiology, gynecology obstetrics and ENT."
The Madras HC made the observation while quashing a proceeding against a homeopathy doctor R Senthilkumar for practicing allopathy at his clinic at Panamarathupatty in Salem.
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Senthilkumar who relied on the circular issued in 2010 was practicing allopathy along with homeopathy. The circular said that the ayurveda, siddha and unani doctors registered under TN Board of Indian Medicine are eligible to practice allopathy along with their system of medicine based on the training provided in their course. However, they cannot just practice allopathy alone.
The circular also reportedly requested the police to not interfere in the practice of doctors registered under TN Siddha Medical Council, TN Board of Indian Medicine and TN Homeopathy Medical Council.
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In October 2019, however, Salem police raided his premises and seized allopathy medicines from Senthilkumar. The police also initiated criminal proceedings against him.