Doctor Calls for Licensing U.S. Ayurvedic Physicians By Francis C. Assisi

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There are around 20-odd ayurveda training institutes in the US, most of which offer short-term courses. And since ayurvedic medicine is currently unregulated in the United States, no license is required for a physician to practice Ayurveda.

According to Mishra, “since Ayurveda is not regulated in the US, the training and the minimum admission standards are not regulated by any government body. Thus, requirements vary from 100 to 600 lecture and practicum hours. As a result, the competence of graduates vary. It is apparent that students trained in the US are drastically under-qualified to practice Ayurveda.”

That’s compared to the situation in India, home of Ayurveda, where the Ayurvedic training program developed and regulated by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) requires a total of 2,970 lecture hours, the 650 practicum hours and one year internship leading to a 5-year Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS).

Mishra proposes "The home of ayurveda is India, and that's where it developed for the last thousands of years. So I'm taking that as the model," he says.

According to Mishra, a campaign for regulation is ongoing in Maryland, USA. He is proposing that a licensing system ought to include four and a half years of education followed by a year of internship in a hospital. This is similar to the programme followed by the 200-odd ayurveda medical colleges in India.

Mishra says the U.S. public should be guaranteed a practitioner with sufficient competence in the same manner that they have this guarantee for a conventional medical practitioner. “Unqualified practitioners undermine the safety of the patient, may provide less than optimum treatment, produce a delay in proper treatment, and jeopardize the growth of the medical system.”

Mishra has also expressed concern over the prescription of ayurvedic drugs by people who are not formally trained.

Dr. Mishra has edited a book entitled "Scientific Basis for Ayurvedic Therapies," released in September 2003. It is claimed that this is the first book to provide critical evaluation of literature, clinical trials, and biochemical and pharmacological studies on major Ayurvedic therapies.

The book reviews the current scientific information on major Ayurvedic therapies, evaluates the research data, and presents it in an easily understandable form for Western researchers and Ayurvedic practitioners. It not only evaluates studies published in Western literature, but also those published in Indian journals.

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