Step up regulation: On AYUSH medical education

Non-government institutions accounted for 86% of Ayurveda and 85% of homoeopathy colleges in 2024, according to government data, showing that the private sector is leading the AYUSH medical education infrastructure’s rapid expansion. Permitted seats also rose by 43% and total admission capacity by 25% between 2021 and 2024, when the Centre’s AYURGYAN allocation for AYUSH education, training, research, innovation and capacity-building, increased nearly sixfold. While similar concerns vis-à-vis allopathic medical education have been confined to whether institutions adequately prepare students for evidence-based practice, the questions of the AYUSH systems are about the quality of training and what students are being trained to practise. Given the combination, it is notable that quality issues in India’s AYUSH system long predate the current boom. In a 2005 audit, the Comptroller and Auditor General found insufficient hospital beds, outpatient services, and/or staff widespread among homoeopathy colleges, with bed occupancy from 1% to 71%.