Ayurvedic, Allopathic Doctors Not Entitled to Equal Salary: Supreme Court

NEW-DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Ayurveda doctors are not on par with MBBS doctors in terms of surgical procedures and, therefore, cannot be entitled to equal pay, setting aside the Gujarat High Court's order that pay and benefits be equal. 

The Supreme Court bench of V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mittal also observed that allopathic doctors were required to perform emergency duty and provide trauma care, which was not the case with Ayurveda doctors.

It said, “Allopathic doctors are required to perform emergency duty and provide trauma care. With the nature of science and the advancement of science and modern medical technology, the emergency duties that allopathic doctors are able to perform and the trauma care that they are able to provide cannot be done by Ayurveda doctors."

It added, "It is not even possible for Ayurveda doctors to assist surgeons performing complex surgeries, while MBBS doctors can."

Referring to OPDs where doctors serve hundreds of patients, the Supreme Court bench said, "We cannot be oblivious to the fact that both categories of doctors are definitely not doing equal work to deserve equal pay."

"We have no doubt that every alternative system of medicine can have its place in history. But today, practitioners of indigenous systems of medicine do not perform complex surgical operations," it said.

However, the Supreme Court also recognized the importance of promoting indigenous systems of medicine.