KERALA GOVERNMENT
AYURVEDA GRADUATE
MEDICAL OFFICERS’ FEDERATION
( Reg No 242 GO(P)7/85 GAD,Dt03.02.1985,Thiruvananthapuram)
From
General Secretary, KGAGMOF
To
DIRECTOR OF ISM, AROGYA BHAVAN,
GOVT. OF KERALA
Madam,
Sub : Re-designation of Therapists as Masseur reg
This matter
is intended to draw your immediate and urgent attention on a matter that has
started affecting the normal functioning of the Government run Ayurveda
hospitals under the Department of Indian systems of Medicine, Government of
Kerala.
The recent media coverage on the
Ayurveda therapist issue has got different connotations. Unfortunately, the
pubic somehow got the feeling that all the panchakarma related procedures done
in the Govt.Ayurveda Hospitals are not done by trained ayurveda therapists, but
by some unqualified personnel drawn from the sanitation worker/cook category
who have no knowledge of human anatomy and physiology.
Even from the initial days of this
Department to about 5years ago, the present ‘Ayurveda Therapists’ were still
‘Masseurs’. Any Department function will definitely improve with more qualified
personnel. But, here, the case is slightly different. All this ‘Qualification
issue’ came when the ’Masseur’ course was re-designated as ‘Ayurveda therapist’,
by the former Director of Ayurveda
Medical Education. He had done this with good faith to improve the overseas job
opportunity of the Masseurs.
The educational qualification, skill,
knowledge required to become a Masseur is significantly low when compared to a
Nurse or Pharmacist.
This new
designation instilled a sense of identity crisis for the Masseurs who now came
to be known as Therapists. The main duty of the masseurs was to do different
type of massages (Including various kizhis) under the direct supervision of the
nurses as directed by the medical officer.
With this new designation, they are
feeling that they are equal or better
competent than nurses and have started behaving like that. The masseurs enjoyed
the same status as that of Nursing assistants and Pharmacy attenders. Anybody
with elementary school if given specialized on the job training for six months
can very effectively do the job of a masseur, and this system is still in
vogue.
But to get selected either for a
Pharmacist course or a Nursing course, minimum pass in the High
School/Secondary school with a very high class or Distinction is the minimum
criteria. The selected candidates then have to undergo a very rigorous training
for one year, and then should qualify the exam conducted by the Director of
Ayurveda Medical Education.
We are of the opinion that the
present problem can be solved to a great degree by re-designating the post of
‘Ayurveda Therapist’ to that of ‘Masseur’.
We humbly request you good self to kindly
look into this and do the needful at the earliest.
Yours faithfully,
Thiruvananthapuram, Dr
K V Baiju
02/04/2013
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