Maharashtra forms 12-member panel to integrate AYUSH into state hospitals; IMA objects
By Ananya RaoAyush & Wellness Correspondent, Peepals Sanskriti
Representative image: FoYu / Pixabay
Maharashtra has set up a 12-member panel to plan AYUSH integration in state-run health facilities; the IMA objects that no independent MBBS doctors are on it.
What Happened
The Maharashtra health department has formed a 12-member committee to study how the AYUSH systems of medicine can be brought into the state's government-run hospitals and health centres alongside modern medicine. The panel, reported on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, is chaired by biologist Bhushan Patwardhan, who is associated with the Union Ministry of AYUSH, with urologist Dr Suresh Patankar as co-chair. The government resolution setting it up gives the committee two months to report. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Maharashtra has objected, saying the panel has no independent MBBS doctors from medical organisations.
Key Facts
- Who set it up: the Maharashtra health department, through a government resolution.
- Size and leadership: 12 members, chaired by Bhushan Patwardhan, with Dr Suresh Patankar, a urologist, as co-chair; most of the other members are AYUSH practitioners and government officials.
- Systems covered: AYUSH stands for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
- Task: to recommend how these systems can work with modern medical services in state-run facilities, including treatment protocols and guidelines for conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes and mental health disorders, and advice on pilot integrated clinics.
- Deadline: a report within two months.
- Objection: IMA Maharashtra wants elected members of the Maharashtra Medical Council and IMA members added to the panel.
- IMA's questions: it wants the government to spell out scope of practice, prescribing rights, clinical responsibility, referral rules and accountability before any recommendation is adopted.
Why It Matters
India's public health system already places AYUSH services inside many government hospitals, usually as separate outpatient departments where a patient can choose an Ayurveda, Unani or homoeopathy doctor instead of, or in addition to, a modern medicine doctor. What Maharashtra is now studying goes further: shared treatment protocols for common long-term conditions inside the same state facilities.
That is where the disagreement lies. The IMA, the largest body of doctors trained in modern medicine, has drawn a line between two models. In one, different systems work side by side, each with its own doctors and its own patients. In the other, systems are combined within the same course of treatment for the same patient. The association says it needs to know which model the state means before it can accept the plan. IMA Maharashtra president Dr Santosh Kulkarni said the association had written to the government asking it to explain what it means by integrated services, and that its primary objection for now is the absence of independent MBBS doctors from medical organisations on the panel.
The questions the IMA has listed are practical ones that any patient would also ask: who is responsible if a treatment goes wrong, who can prescribe which medicines, and when a patient must be referred to a specialist. Maharashtra has seen this argument before: the panel comes months after doctors in the state protested against what they described as the mixing of modern medicine with homoeopathy.
On evidence, the position is mixed and the committee's work will be watched for it. The AYUSH systems are recognised by law in India and regulated through the Union Ministry of AYUSH. Modern medicine bodies, including the IMA, say any treatment protocol used in public hospitals must rest on clinical trial evidence of safety and benefit. Readers should note that the panel has been asked to draft guidelines; it has not approved any AYUSH treatment for arthritis, diabetes, blood pressure or mental illness, and nothing in its brief changes the treatment a patient is receiving today.
| Point | What the government has set out | What the IMA is asking |
|---|---|---|
| Panel | 12 members, mostly AYUSH practitioners and officials | Add elected Maharashtra Medical Council and IMA members |
| Aim | Integrate AYUSH with modern services in state facilities | Define "integrated services" first |
| Clinical rules | Protocols for arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, mental health | Clarity on prescribing rights, referrals, accountability |
| Timeline | Report in two months | Clarify before recommendations are adopted |
Impact
Short-term: The committee will begin consultations and drafting. The IMA's letter means the state is likely to face pressure to widen the panel or to answer the association's questions in public.
Long-term: If the report leads to integrated clinics, patients in Maharashtra's government hospitals could be offered AYUSH and modern treatments under one roof for chronic conditions. How prescribing rights and referral rules are written will decide whether doctors of both streams accept the system.
Who is affected: Patients who use government hospitals in Maharashtra, AYUSH practitioners and modern medicine doctors in the state's public health service, the Maharashtra Medical Council, and health administrators who will have to run any pilot clinics.
Key Takeaway
Maharashtra has given a 12-member, AYUSH-led panel two months to plan how traditional systems can work with modern medicine in state hospitals, while the IMA demands a place on the panel and clear rules on prescribing, referral and accountability.
Questions and Answers
What is the Maharashtra AYUSH integration panel?
It is a 12-member committee formed by the Maharashtra health department to recommend how Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy can be brought into state-run health facilities alongside modern medicine. It is chaired by Bhushan Patwardhan, with urologist Dr Suresh Patankar as co-chair, and must report within two months.
Why is the Indian Medical Association objecting?
IMA Maharashtra says the panel has no independent MBBS doctors from medical organisations. It wants elected Maharashtra Medical Council members and IMA members added, and wants the government to define what integrated services means.
Does this mean AYUSH doctors will treat diabetes or hypertension in government hospitals now?
No. The committee has only been asked to draft protocols and suggest pilot clinics. No new treatment has been approved, and current care in state hospitals is unchanged until the government acts on the report.
What does the IMA want clarified?
The scope of practice of each stream, who may prescribe which medicines, who carries clinical responsibility, how patients are referred, and who is accountable, all before any recommendation is adopted.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
By Ananya Rao, Ayush & Wellness CorrespondentCovers Ayush and more for Peepals Sanskriti. All stories by Ananya Rao
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Ananya Rao is a pen name of the Peepals Global Editorial Team, which researches, fact-checks and publishes every story. The portrait is an illustration.
