Ayush doctors get six-month emergency care, lifestyle counselling courses

Ayush doctors in India are to get two new six-month certificate courses in hospital-based clinical skills, announced at the second Indo-UK Health Conclave in New Delhi on Friday, 9 October 2026. The courses, a Certificate in Acute Care and Emergency Support and a Certificate in Lifestyle Health and Well-Being Counselling and Practice, are offered by Marengo Asia Hospitals and the UK-based BAPIO Training Academy in association with the Ministry of Ayush. Union Minister of State for Ayush Prataprao Jadhav, who inaugurated the conclave, welcomed the initiative and said traditional medicine can strengthen preventive healthcare when it is backed by scientific evidence and quality standards.

India trains a large number of doctors in Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Unani and Siddha every year, but their place in mainstream hospitals is often unclear. Many work in Ayush clinics, in wellness centres or as duty doctors in private hospitals, where they may meet emergencies or patients with lifestyle diseases without formal training for those situations. A structured, supervised course in emergency support and in lifestyle counselling gives them a defined role inside a multidisciplinary team, rather than leaving that role to informal arrangement.

The minister framed the move within the government's wider line on Ayush: that India's traditional systems, which he listed as Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy, can contribute to preventive care and overall well-being when supported by research, clinical evidence, quality standards and responsible integration. He also pointed to the United Kingdom's experience in clinical governance and patient safety as complementary to India's clinical capacity and scale of healthcare delivery. In simple terms, the pitch is that tradition gains credibility when it is practised under the same rules of training, supervision and accountability as modern medicine.

The timing fits a run of moves by the Ayush ministry to tie traditional practice to evidence and standard protocols. Earlier in the same week, on 13 October, the ministry released standard treatment guidelines for skin disorders across Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy, with Yoga included. Internationally, the World Health Organization published a global research agenda on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine in September 2026, noting that less than 1% of global health research funding goes to this field. Training Ayush graduates in recognised clinical skills is one practical way to build the kind of evidence and safety record that both the ministry and the WHO are asking for.

There are open questions. The reports of the launch did not say who awards the certificates, whether they will be recognised by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine or the National Commission for Homoeopathy, or how many doctors can enrol. Ayush graduates considering the courses should wait for the organisers to publish eligibility, fees and dates, and should check how the certificate will be recognised before they commit time and money.

Short-term: Ayush graduates gain a new, hospital-based training option in emergency support and lifestyle counselling. Details on admission are still awaited from the organisers.

Long-term: If such courses are widely taken up and formally recognised, Ayush doctors could take on clearer, supervised roles in hospital teams, especially in preventive care and the management of lifestyle diseases, and the India-UK partnership could serve as a model for other training tie-ups.

Who is affected: BAMS, BHMS and other Ayush graduates and postgraduates; private hospitals that employ Ayush doctors in clinical support roles; patients who see Ayush practitioners for lifestyle conditions; and regulators who set the scope of Ayush practice.

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