Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (B.A.M.S.) is a

professional degree A professional degree, formerly known in the US as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, practice, or industry sector often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditatio ...

focused on

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

offered in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Ayurveda is a type of

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and al ...

, and the study of Ayurveda is

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

while the practice can be classified as

protoscience __NOTOC__ In the philosophy of science, there are several definitions of protoscience. Its simplest meaning (most closely reflecting its roots of '' proto-'' + ''science'') involves the earliest eras of the history of science, when the scientific m ...

or unscientific.

About

A 2001 report from the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

noted that Ayurveda was widely practiced in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, the four corresponding nations that offer the BAMS degree. Ayurveda was generally not integrated with the national health system of nations outside of the Indian subcontinent.

India

In India, the curriculum includes the study of Ayurveda and corresponding Ayurvedic subjects such as ''Rachana Sharira'', ''Kriya Sharira'', ''Dravyuaguna'', ''Svasthavritta'' and Yoga, ''Roga Nidana'' and ''Vikriti Vijnana'', ''Kaya Chikitsa'', ''Kaumara Bhritya'', ''Prasuti Tantra'', ''Shalya Tantra'', ''Shalakya Tantra'' etc. along with human

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

& diagnostic procedures, principles of medicine,

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating e ...

forensic medicine Forensic medicine is a broad term used to describe a group of medical specialties which deal with the examination and diagnosis of individuals who have been injured by or who have died because of external or unnatural causes such as poisoning, ass ...

, E.N.T, gynecology & obstetrics, ophthalmology and principles of surgery from modern medicine. The syllabus also includes ancient and medieval classics, sometimes in the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

language. Institutions in India that offer the degree include the

National Institute of Ayurveda The National Institute of Ayurveda ( NIA) is a research institute of Ayurvedic medicine, located in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. History The early institute was established as an independent Ayurvedic College by Government of Rajasthan in 19 ...

and

All India Institute of Ayurveda, Delhi The All India Institute of Ayurveda, Delhi (abbreviated AIIA Delhi or AIIA) is a public Ayurveda medicine and research institution located in New Delhi, India. History The proposal for the establishment of AIIA at New Delhi originated from th ...

. In India, a student can go on to earn a Masters degree in the form of

MD (Ayurveda) M.D.(Doctor of Medicine in Ayurveda) or ''Ayurveda Vachaspati'' is the three-year master's course in the Indian medical system of Ayurveda. MD/MS (Ayurveda) is offered in many medical colleges in India and Sri Lanka. The selection to the MD/MS (Ayu ...

and MS (Ayurveda), a PhD, and clinical doctorate degrees in traditional and complementary medicine at the university level. There are also opportunities to perform research, work in hospital and healthcare administration, and in health supervision. In a report from 2020, the

stated there was "a history of combining

allopathic Allopathic medicine, or allopathy, is an archaic term used to define science-based modern medicine. Citing: ''Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine'' (2008) and ''Mosby's Medical Dictionary'', 8th ed. (2009). There are regional variations in usage of th ...

and

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

systems in India, including through medical education." The WHO described

AYUSH The Ministry of Ayush, a ministry of the Government of India, is responsible for developing education, research and propagation of traditional medicine systems in India. Ayush is a name devised from the names of the alternative healthcare syst ...

and conventional medical systems as "separate and parallel at the levels of governance, organisation, education and service delivery."

Permission to practice medicine

BAMS graduates have been permitted to practice medicine in the state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

. In the state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

, BAMS doctors appointed in primary health centres in rural areas can practice modern-medicine in case of "emergencies".

References

External links

Central Council of Indian Medicine
(CCIM), the apex body in India which regulates education and practice of BAMS doctors {{DEFAULTSORT:Bachelor Of Ayurveda, Medicine And Surgery Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery Bachelor of Academic degrees of India Medical degrees Medical education in India