Why this painful end to Central Council of Homoeopathy ?

Why this painful end to Central Council of Homoeopathy ?

Dr Mansoor Ali 

(1973-2018) – an interesting  journey through the history of central council of homoeopathy.

Central Council of Homoeopathy completed its journey with bitterness and pain on 18th May 2018

The president of India Promulgated  The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 on 18th May 2018 and dismissed the Central Council Council of Homoeopathy with immediate effect. Govt of India Appointed six board of governors, they will work instead of the council for the next one year or until National Commission for Homoeopathy Bill approved by parliament, whichever is earlier.

Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH) is a statutory apex body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Department of AYUSH. It was set up by the Government of India in 1973, and part of the Professional Councils of University Grants Commission (UGC), formed to monitor higher education in India

Who is responsible?
The main allegation is corruption, but nothing proved even after CBI enquiry. The tug of war between Ministry and Council started in 2003 when the power of giving permission to colleges to start and continue courses was taken from the council to Government.Recent Mumbai and Delhi high court verdicts are also in favour of the council. Authorities tried hard to expel the last president Dr Ramjee Singh – that also not succeeded.

But many of the senior members of the council is also responsible for this shameful exit. They were interested only in repeatedly elected to the council, but no quality improvement to the homoeopathy education in India. 

CCH members from Maharashtra including CCH Vice president & one of the members of CCH executive take pride in getting State Govt. permission for legalizing allopathic practice for homoeopaths. But only because of the firm stand of Ramjee Singh that was not legalised- At that time he said that “the CCH members of Maharashtra are having a dream which will never see the light of the day as long as  I am the CCH president”. This words will be remembered in the history of CCH.

Many times the vice president and senior members leaked the inspection details and handover to concerned college authorities. These lazy council members enjoyed many things – now they must introspect – how much they contributed to homoeopathy education in India?

College owners are regulators in homoeopathy. Many of the CCH members including Vice President have their own colleges – that is another reason for dilution in norms and conditions and fraud activity in inspection procedures

This should be a lesson to the members of forthcoming National Commission for Homoeopathy. Unless we work faithfully for the cause – we will be thrown out  painfully. We have to be cautious to avoid such embarrassment in future. Let us preserve this system in its pristine purity for the new generation students and homoeopaths.

 Past Presidents and Vice Presidents 

President
1.	Prof. A.K.Kisku	6-8-74 to 5-8-76
2.	Dr. Jugal Kishore	6-8-76 to 4-2-91
3	Dr. S.P.S.Bakshi	5-2-91 to  6.8.2009
4	Dr.Ramjee Singh	7.8.2009 to 18.5.2018
Vice President
1.	Dr. Jugal Kishore	6-8-74 to 5-8-76
2.	Dr. Diwan Harish Chand	6-8-76 to 4-2-91
3.	Dr. V.T.Augustine	5-2-91 to 23.3.1999
4.	Dr. Ramjee Singh	24.3.1999 to 6.8.2009
5.	Dr Arun Bhasme	7.8.2009 to 18.5.2018

A brief interesting history and the pain behind the formation of council
Because of the popularity of homoeopathy, there had been demand for a long time for recognition of Homoeopathy as a system of Medicine by the Government of India. In April, 1937 Md. Ghias-ud-idin, M.L.A., moved a resolution in the Legislative Assembly for the recognition of Homoeopathy. The resolution was passed and forwarded to the State Governments for its implementation and Bengal was the first province to constitute a Homeopathic State Faculty in 1943.

After the formation of National Government on 17th February, 1948 Shri Satis Chandra Samanta, M.P. (West Bengal) moved a resolution for consideration by the constituent-Asssemby of India which run as follows –

“This Assembly is of opinion that homoeopathic system of treatment be recognized by the Indian Union and that a General Council and a State Faculty of Homoeopathic Medicine be established at once.”

An amended resolution was moved by Shri Mohan Lal Saxena, Member of Parliament (UP) in the following terms.

“In view of the fact that treatment by the system of Homoeopathy is restored to by many people, this Assembly is of the opinion that the Government should consider

1. the making of arrangements for the teaching of Homoeopathy;
2. the advisability of having Post Graduate Courses of study; and
3. the advisability of regulating the profession and arranging for the registration of practitioners in order to raise and maintain uniformity of standards.”

This resolution was unanimously adopted and subsequently the Government of India appointed a Homoeopathic Enquiry Committee in 1948, and Committee submitted a report in 1949. This Committee recommended that Central Council of Homoeopathic Medicine should be established. Besides, the provincial Homoeopathic Council should also be established.

Homoeopathic Advisory Committee
In 1952, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, the then Union Health Minister appointed a Homoeopathic Ad-hoc Committee which functioned upto 1954. Later on the same Committee was designated as the Homoeopathic Advisory Committee with the Director General of Health Services as its Chairman. 

In 1956, this Advisory Committee was taken over by the Ministry of Health and Secretary in the Ministry of Health became its first Chairman. The Homoeopathic Advisory Committee recommended the appointment of an Honorary Homoeopathic Adviser in 1960 and Dr. K.G. Saxena was appointed first Honorary Homoeopathic Adviser to the Government of India in 1962. This Committee also recommended the constitution of a Central Council of Homoeopathy. A special panel of Planning Commission of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy endorsed this recommendation in 1952, 1956 and 1966. 

The Central Council of Health comprising of the State Health Ministers recommended in 1965 that the Central Council of Indian Systems of Medicine may be set up as early as possible to lay down and regulate the standards of education, examination and practice in Ayurveda, Unani and Homoeopathy.

Towards A Separate Council
Various All India and State Homoeopathic Associations had also been supporting the formation of Central Council of Homoeopathy in various Congresses. The Central Council ofHealth, therefore, constituted a Sub-Committee in October, 1967 with Pandit Shiv Sharma the Chairman to look into the details of the proposed legislation.

Accordingly, the Bill for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy Central Council was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 17-12-1968

A joint Committee of Parliament considered the Bill. The exponents of Homoeopathy and also the experts of the three systems of Indian Medicine, viz., Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha represented before the committee that the basic concepts of Indian Medicine were different from the fundamentals of Homoeopathy and, therefore, a separate Council of Homoeopathy was needed. 

For the proper growth and development of all the four systems, the Committee recommended two separate independent Central Councils, one for all the three systems of Indian Medicine and the other for Homoeopathy. The Committee amended the Bill suitably so as to make provisions for a composite Central Council for the three Indian Systems deleting references to Homoeopathy. The Committee also recommended for preparation of a separate Bill for Homoeopathy and drafted a Bill on similar lines for introduction in Parliament.

Accordingly, The Homoeopathic Central Council Bill was drafted and was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 3rd April, 1972. Shri Jagdish Prasad Mathur, Member of Parliament moved a motion in the Rajya Sabha for reference of the Bill to another Joint Committee of both the houses and adopted by the House on the same day.

Accordingly, The Homoeopathic Central Council Bill was drafted and was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 3rd April, 1972. Shri Jagdish Prasad Mathur, Member of Parliament moved a motion in the Rajya Sabha for reference of the Bill to another Joint Committee of both the houses and adopted by the House on the same day which is resolved as under –

“That the Bill to provide for the constitution of a Central Council of Homoeopathy and for matters connected therewith be referred to a Joint Committee of the Houses consiting of 45 members; 15 members from this House namely:

1. Sh. Sasankasekhar Sanyal	8. Sh. T.K. Srinivasan
2. Sh. Bhupinder Singh	9. Sh. K.C. Panda
3. Sh. N.G. Goray	10. Sh. Manubhai Shah
4. Sh. K. Nagappa Alva	11. Sh. Sultan Singh
5. Sh. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya	12. Sh. N.P. Chaudhari
6. Sh. Sitaram Kesri	13. Sh. T.G. Deshmukh
7. Sh. Man Singh Varma	14. Smt. Savita Behen
	15. Smt. Purabi Mukhopadhyay

and 30 members from the Lok Sabha;

• that in order to constitute a meeting of the Joint Committee the quorum shall be one-third of the total number of members of the Joint Com mittee;
• that in other respects, the Rules of Procedure of this House relating to Select Committees shall apply with such variations and modifications as the Chairman may make;
• that the Committee shall make a report to this House by the first day of the Eighty first Session; and
• that this House recommends to the Lok Sabha that the Lok Sabha do join in the said Joint Committee and communicate to this House the names of member to be appointed by the Lok Sabha to the Joint Committee.”

Subsequently following motion in Lok Sabha was passed :-
“That this House do concur in the recommendation of Rajya Sabha that the House do join in the Joint Committee of the Houses on the Bill to provide for the constitution of a Central Council of Homoeopathy and the maintenance of a Central Register of Homoeopathy and for matters connected therewith, made in the motion adopted by Rajya Sabha at its sitting held on the 3rd April, 1972 and communicated to this House on the 4th April, 1972 and to resolve that the following 30 Members of Lok Sabha be nominated to serve on the said Joint Committee, namely –

1. Shri Ziaur Ansari	16. Shri Mallikarjun
2. Shri Vidya Dhar Bajpai	17. Shri Prasannbhai Mehta
3. Shri Kushok Bakula	18. Shri N. Sreekantan Nair
4. Shri Muhammed Khuda Bukhsh	19. Dr. Laxminarayan Pandeya
5. Shri A.M. Chellachemi	20. Shri Janaki Ballav Patnaik
6. Shri Bhaoosahaib Dhamankar	21. Shri S.L. Peje
7. Shri Hiralal Doda	22. Shri Maulana Ishaque Sambhali
8. Shri Nageshwar Dwivedi	23. Shri M. Satyanarayan Rao
9. Shri Pampan Gowda	24. Shri Umed Singh Rathia
10. Shri Madhuryya Haldar	25. Shri K. Ramakrishna Reddy
11. Shri Chiranjib Jha	26. Dr. Sankata Prasad
12. Shri Popatlal M. Joshi	27. Shri Awdhesh Chandra Singh
13. Shri Ramachandran Kadannappalli	28. Shri Ram Deo Singh
14. Shri B.R. Kavade	29. Shri Rana Bahadur Singh
15. Shri T.S. Lakshmanan	30. Shri A.K. Kisku.”

Joint Committee comprising of 45 members of both the Houses worked under the Chairmanship of Smt. Purabi MukhopadhaYaY, Member of Parliament (West Bengal).

Dr. Jugal Kishore, Advisor in Homoeopathy, Shri P.V. Hariharsankaran, Deputy Secretary and Dr. D.P. Rastogi, Research officer, from Ministry of Health and Family Planning; Shri M.S. Panigrahi, Deputy Secretary, Shri M.K. Jain, Under Secretary for the Secretariate, Shri P.L. Gupta, Additional Legislative Counsel, Smt. V.S. Rama Devi, Deputy Legislative Counsel were actively associated with the said Joint Committee of Parliament.

To facilitate the Committee 5 different questionaries were issued to Private Homoeopathic Practitioners, Professional Associations, Homoeopathic Institutions, State Homoeopathic Boards/Councils and the State Governments to elicit replies to the specific points contained in those questionaries.

100 of memorandum containing views, comments and suggestions and replies to questionaries from 248 individuals, professional associations, institutions, State Board/ Councils and State Governments on various provisions of the Bill were received by the Committee. The said Committee visited various Homoeopathic Medical Colleges in the country and heard the homoeopathic doctors, representatives of the concerned organisations.

On the 8th March, 1973 the Committee in its 26th Meeting considered the draft report and adopted the Bill with some amendment. In the preamble of the Bill following were included–

“a few States have constituted State Boards or Councils either by legislation or by executive orders, for the purpose of registration of practitioners in Homoeopathy as well as recognition of medical qualifications in Homoeopathy. There is, however, no Central Legislation for the regulation of practice or for minimum standards of training and conduct of examination in the system of medicine on all India basis. A Statutory Central Council on the lines of the Medical Council of India of the modern system of medicine is a prerequisite for the proper growth of development of Homoeopathy.

The main functions of the Central Council of Homoeopathy would be to evolve uniform standards of education in Homoeopathy and the registration of practitioners of Homoeopathy. The registration of practitioners on the Central Register of Homoeopathy will ensure that medicine is not practised by those who are not qualified in this system, and those who practise, observe a code of ethics in the profession. The Bill is intended to achieve these objectives”. -(Gazette of India, 1-12-1971, Pt. II, S.2, Ext., p. 837)

Thereafter the Homoeopathic Central Council Bill as recommended by the Joint Committee was passed by both the houses of Parliament and was given assent to by the President of India on 17TH DECEMBER, 1973.

HOMOEOPATHY (DIPLOMA COURSE) D.H.M.S. REGULATIONS, 1983
DHMS Course spreads over a period of four years including compulsory internship of six months duration after passing the final diploma examination. Fresh admissions in 1st DHMS Diploma course stopped w.e.f. 04-02-1999 throughout the country.

HOMOEOPATHY (DEGREE COURSE) B.H.M.S. REGULATIONS, 1983
BHMS Course spreads over a period of five and half years including compulsory internship of one year duration after passing the final degree examination.

The admission qualification for both the courses is Intermediate Science (10+2) with Physics, Chemistry and Biology subjects or equivalent.

HOMOEOPATHY (GRADED DEGREE COURSE) B.H.M.S. REGULATIONS, 1983
BHMS Graded Degree Course spreads over a period of two years including compulsory internship of six months duration after passing the final degree examination.

This Course has been recommended as a bridge or link short term course for the benefit of diploma holders to raise their educational level to that of degree.

The Central Council has also laid down minimum standards of education specifying that every college shall provide minimum requirements, norm and standards in regard to teaching as well as hospital staff, equipment, accommodation and other facilities for proper training of the medical students of Homoeopathy.

HOMOEOPATHY (POST GRADUATE DEGREE COURSE) M.D.(Hom.) REGULATIONS, 1989
[which have been amended twice i.e. vide Homoeopathy (Post Graduate Degree Course) M.D.(Hom.) (Amendment) Regulations, 1992 & (Post Graduate Degree Course) M.D.(Hom.) (Amendment) Regulations, 2001,2013 and 2016].

The Central Council has prescribed Post Graduate Degree Courses in Hooeopathic subjects i.e., Materia Medica, Homoeopathic Philosophy and Repertory which spread over 3 years duration including one year house job or equivalent thereof.

In order to evaluate the standards of medical education being imparted in various medical colleges of Homoeopathy, the Central Council has laid down with the prior approval of Central Government, Homoeopathy Central Council (Inspectors and Visitors) Regulations, 1982 for inspection of the Colleges in terms of teaching facilities, equipments, accommodation, staff provided in the Colleges and attached hospitals.

Many years of struggle and hard work – but a painful end. 

Reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Council_of_Homoeopathy

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