Pune/Mumbai: Dr Rajashri Memane on Monday became the city’s first and the state’s second Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC)-registered homeopath.She and Badlapur’s Dr Ramesh Kamble got the permission to practise modern medicine, after MMC officially resumed the registration of BHMS-CCMP (Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology) homeopathic practitioners. Memane, practising for the past 25 years, completed her one-year pharmacology course from BJ Medical College. Her clinic is in Dhayari. Kamble completed his one-year CCMP course in 2023.Memane said, “The govt came up with the one-year CCMP course to deal with the shortage of allopathic doctors in urban and rural areas. The homeopathic course includes all the subjects an MBBS doctor studies in the five-year course, barring pharmacology. It was introduced in the CCMP course. Allopathic doctors impart the course. Even our exams are conducted at allopathy colleges.”She said until now many homeopaths were prescribing allopathic medicines to save their patients without the official recognition. The MMC registration would allow them to prescribe allopathic medicines legally.Badlapur’s Kamble said he completed BHMS in 2012 and had started prescribing allopathic medicines while working at Sushrut Hospital. When asked why he did not pursue MBBS, he said, “There was no one to guide me at that time. So I went for whatever option was available.”The first homeopath was registered with MMC on Aug 4, making Maharashtra the first state in the country to do so. It triggered a statewide strike of various allopathic doctors’ associations. The strike was called off on Aug 7, after the high court’s intervention.The medical education department put a freeze on homeopaths’ registration on Aug 18. The order was reversed on Aug 21 and the MMC was directed to resume the registration process.The department secretary, Dheeraj Kumar, said the earlier letter was issued without his approval, while he was out of office because of fever. He said, “It was a procedural error. A show-cause notice was issued to the person concerned. He has submitted his explanation. Further action will be taken.”Indian Medical Association president Dr Santosh Kulkarni in a statement said, “Accepting moral responsibility for the blatant administrative failure, the chaotic directives to MMC and the disrespect shown to judicial instructions, medical education minister Hassan Mushrif and principal secretary (Dheeraj Kumar) must tender their resignations immediately.”Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Monday said in a statement, “We reaffirm our principled stand on the CCMP registration issue, with patients’ safety as our sole and non-negotiable priority. We have respected the high court’s directions and ensured that emergency, casualty and life-saving services continued without interruption. The Central MARD will continue with the fight through legal remedies, state-wide public awareness and a united nationwide movement.”The state had ordered MMC on Aug 3 to constitute a committee to determine the competence, standard operating procedures and ethical framework related to homeopathic doctors. The panel was ordered to submit its recommendations within a month. It is awaited.
