Proposal to license Ayurveda Practitioners in the US

[Guest guest]

right on darla!

 

the whole issue of licensing also brings up the issue of

"professionalism", which as a societal phenomena, has sought to take

the common knowledge of the people away from them by claiming that it

is dangerous or too complicated for lowly folk to understand

 

apart from the example of midwifery, there are many other examples of

this, and i would say that in general, the entire ethic of

professionalism has created more problems than not - at one time,

everyone knew how to take care of the common cold with simple herbal

remedies, steam baths etc, but then the medicos would would tell

people that notions such as excess 'phlegm' or 'cold weather' had

nothing to do with the common cold, and is caused by a viral infection

 

of course, not even listening to their own criteria, physician-

prescribed antibiotics for the common cold has resulted not only in

these drugs becoming less effect (due to antibiotic resistance), its

created an entire class of physician-caused disease

 

professionalism and licensing aren't a guarantee of anything - if it

were, then the certified professional accountants (CPAs) that saw the

downfall of Enron would never have happened

 

ayurvedic practitioners need to remember that their profession is

born out of grassroots acceptance of this tradition, and that the

grassroots will always venerate and respect knowledgeable and learned

practitioners, regardless of licensing

 

right now, ayurveda is very weak in north america because it is

young, and the only way this can be remedied is by slowing turning

people onto the truth of ayurveda through education, not by

alienating others by initiating a turf war that plays into the hands

of the corporate agenda

 

however, i am not against a strong national and state/provincial

associations that establish criteria for competent practice, and

independently board certify practitioners - but please let's not get

the government involved in this

 

currently, i am involved in an effort to establish board

certification for western herbalists in north america, NOT licensing

- this model could easily be applied to the practice of ayurveda, and

ultimately achieves what is really needed - public confidence

 

best... todd

 

On 5-Jun-06, at 11:35 AM, ayurveda wrote:

 

> FDA. I prefer to take my chances with the system as it is. From

> what I have

> read, licensing of medical doctors in America in the first place

> was just an

> excuse to get rid of midwives.

Caldecott

todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

www.toddcaldecott.com

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr.

This is with reference to the statement you have made in the reply to Dr.Noel's message -you have said -

 

"in ancient India, Ayurvedic physicians never needed to be licensed -

and there were always those who were considered good and wise

practitioners, and those that were not - back then, as now, the

axiom was "buyer beware"

 

With due respect to what you have said, let me state that in ancient India Ayurvedic Vaidyas need to take permission ( a kind of licence) , required to take oath before starting practice (Maharshi Charak's Oath ) , they were punishable if they would have undertaken surgeries without King's permission ( Ref. - Arya Chanakya's Kautileeya Arthashastra ) !

 

Any ways , but many a times we really don' t know so many things......! Still we want to emphasize our points very strongly.

 

It is quite true that after struggling very hard for 5 and half years here in India we do get a degree B.A.M.S.(Ayurvedacharya) , after again working out very hard for next three years one can get a post graduation M.D.(Ayurved) & thats not the end point....! THose who are really studious , really interested in learning Ayurveda, practicing Ayurveda, they continue going to different senior Vaidyas parellely ( as Gurukul School) while doing their university qualification, learn Sanskrit seperately for understanding Commentaries ( Teeka ) on various Ancient Samhitas(texts) in original sanskrit language. Make lots of medicines at their home / clinic & strive to do the best for their patients.

 

Inspite of doing so much hardly you might find such people speaking so aggresively & some times a bit ( over) confidently on Ayurveda ! But unfortunately we see that after doing a small courses in ayurveda or geting some naturopathy or Alternative Medicine qualification people start writting on Ayurveda ! Well , there are certain GOOD EXCEPTION to what I said here.

 

If there will be some rules / regulations with regards to the licencing of Ayurvedic practice in US or per say why only in US , even in other countries too, let there be proper standards, pre requisits for that , so then the practice of Ayurveda will be perhaps really authentic !

 

I hope there need not be any difference of opinion on this observation I mentioned over here. But I will be happy to receive different views & opinions from other learned scholars of our group.

 

Thanking you,

With warm regards,

Prof.Dr.Aashish Phadke

M.D.(Ayurved)(Mumbai),M.I.I.M.

Dip.in Yoga Education,Dip.inYoga

Dip.in Sanskrit, Sanskrit kovid

www.ayurvision.com

 

ayurveda wrote:

 

Message: 3

Sun Jun 4, 2006 8:23 pm (PDT)

"Todd Caldecott" todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

Re: Proposal to license Ayurveda Practitioners in the US

 

 

Hi Noel

 

I agree that we are many, many years away from any kind of licensing

for Ayurvedic practitioners, in the US or Canada - and thank GOD for

that!

 

In her new book, the "Dark Ages Ahead", author Jane Jacobs describes

fiver pillars of society that are undergoing decline, and have been

undergoing decline in the West, for some time - these include:

<Snip>

according Jacobs, the last pillar, that of self-regulating

professional associations, is under attack

rather than have a community of peers establish the criteria for

professional practice, ensuring the proper and up-to-date standards

that are there to protect the profession and their clients, licensing

can often achieve the opposite result - an external panel of non-

professionals that have no expertise (i.e. politicians and

bureaucrats) that establish laws for professional practice, but in

doing so, create an inherent inflexibility within the practice of

that profession (telling the professional what he/she can and cannot

do), and with the security of being "licensed", can create stagnation

within that profession as we see with other licensed professions such

as modern medicine

 

licensing is also a mechanism whereby a certain class of

professionals seek to restrict the practice of apparently competing

professionals, by saying they don't have the training or expertise to

practice

<SNIP>