At a recent national conference in Chandigarh, Dilip Bhanushali — national president of the IMA — challenged the widespread assumption that India is suffering from a doctor shortage. He maintained there is no real dearth of medical professionals. “Every year, over 1.1 lakh doctors graduate from medical colleges,” he said. “Despite this massive influx, a significant number of young doctors are unemployed or underemployed, earning wages as low as Rs 40,000.”
Dr. Bhanushali urged the government to shift its focus away from endlessly opening new medical colleges, arguing this approach often sacrifices educational quality. Instead, he advocated for strengthening existing institutions and creating meaningful employment opportunities for new graduates.
The IMA head also voiced strong opposition to integrating alternative medicine systems like Ayurveda or homeopathy with allopathic practices — a concept often referred to as “mixopathy.” “IMA insists that systems like Ayurveda must be maintained in their ‘original, pure form’. Mixing two fundamentally different sciences creates clinical risk,” he warned.
He flagged a serious concern about non-allopathic practitioners — such as BAMS graduates — prescribing modern medicines like advanced antibiotics or steroids, or even attempting surgeries without sufficient training. According to him, this often leads to complications that become difficult to treat when patients later seek allopathic care. “99% of Ayurveda people write modern medicines without knowing the indications and side effects,” he said.
Beyond workforce issues, Dr. Bhanushali criticized current healthcare policies, including the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Noting that healthcare spending remains around 1.5% of GDP, he argued that resources would be better used strengthening government-run hospitals rather than relying heavily on such schemes. He also pointed out the difficulty many public hospitals face: “Some 80% of healthcare is delivered by the private sector,” he noted, with smaller nursing homes becoming the fallback option for patients when government facilities are overwhelmed.
He additionally criticized the government’s push to mandate enrolment of doctors in the Ayushman panel, despite delays of months — even years — in promised payments, often amounting to hundreds of crores. “Govt is bent upon starting Ayushman in every hospital without proper allocation of funds,” he said.