PATNA, June 2 -- The Bihar unit has extended support to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in resisting the Union government's plan to introduce ayurveda in MBBS curriculum, said Dr Ajay Kumar, convener of the action committee of IMA-Bihar and its former president on Sunday. "It will neither be in the interest of patients, nor that of modern or alternative medicines to mix the two independent disciplines in the course curriculum of MBBS," said Dr Kumar. The IMA has termed the mixing of systems, which are incompatible, an 'irreversible catastrophe'. The first integrative course, mixing MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) and BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery), is likely to be introduced at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, said IMA in a statement on May 30. The IMA urged the government to let the patient choose his/her system of treatment. "Mixopathy takes away the right of the patient to choose care of his/her choice. Let all systems retain their pristine purity. Refrain from producing hybrid doctors who will be only qualified quacks," the IMA said in its statement, urging the government to withdraw its proposal. It said China had miserably failed in its experiment to mix modern medicine and Chinese traditional medicine, resulting in decimation of their traditional medicine. "The IMA firmly believes that this misadventure will set back health care by a century. There are reasons to believe that this would be catastrophic for Ayurveda as well. Having failed to convince the government, the IMA has no option but to take the people into confidence. IMA appeals to the nation to resist this indiscretion for the health of future generations. IMA appeals to qualified Ayurvedic physicians to defend their system. IMA respects all systems of medicine for their historic legacy," the IMA statement added. The IMA, its statement said, failed to see any compelling reason or logic in what it termed the ill-advised government move. HTC...