NCH clarifies rules on Maharashtra bridge course for homoeopaths

The National Commission for Homoeopathy has clarified when homoeopaths may work outside their own system before the Bombay High Court hears the CCMP dispute in Maharashtra. The clarification sharpens the question of whether CCMP-qualified homoeopaths can be registered with the Maharashtra Medical Council.Days ago, doctors in Maharashtra were protesting against a govt order to issue certificate in "bridge course" for homeopathsThe National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) has clarified its position on when homoeopathic practitioners can practise outside their own system of medicine, days before the Bombay High Court is expected to take up the long-running legal battle over Maharashtra’s Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP).The clarification comes after protests by modern medicine doctors against the state’s decision to register CCMP -qualified homoeopaths with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC).The court hearing later this week is expected to be significant, with the dispute having remained pending since 2014.Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, former national president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said the matter could reach a final hearing soon. He added that the MMC has so far issued only the first registration and that no fresh registrations have been given since the controversy erupted. WHAT THE NCH SAIDThe NCH clarification, issued last week, is important because its 2022 professional conduct regulations appear to contain both a general restriction and a specific exception. According to this, a homoeopathic practitioner cannot practise any other system of medicine.But its proviso allows such a practitioner to work under a National Health Programme or another central or state government programme if they have undergone training or a course recognised or prescribed by the competent authority. The commission also pointed to its BHMS regulations, which recognise the role of homoeopathic graduates in government health facilities and National Health Programmes. The NCH said its latest clarification was meant to ensure these provisions are understood in their proper regulatory context.Importantly, the clarification does not amount to a blanket permission for homoeopaths to practise modern medicine. Whether Maharashtra’s CCMP framework falls within the exception – and whether CCMP qualification can support registration with the modern-medicine council – remains a judicial matter.WHY CCMP MATTERSThe controversy goes back to the larger debate over “bridge courses” in India. The basic idea was to give practitioners from other systems additional training so they could provide limited primary healthcare, particularly in underserved areas.Such proposals have repeatedly triggered opposition from modern medicine doctors, who argue that prescribing medicines cannot be separated from diagnosis, clinical training and the ability to manage complications.Maharashtra’s CCMP is a state-specific version of that idea. Homoeopathic doctors with a BHMS degree can take the additional course in modern pharmacology. The dispute intensified this year when the state began granting such practitioners registration with the MMC.Around 10,000 BHMS graduates are estimated to have completed the CCMP over the years.That registration is at the heart of the current fight. As Dr Wankhedkar put it, the NCH circular appears intended to help the court understand the regulatory position on the CCMP, with the commission “trying to balance” the provisions.He stressed that limited permission to prescribe specified medicines is different from being placed on the statutory register governing modern-medicine practitioners.That distinction has also been central to the doctors’ protests. Several states already allow practitioners of other systems, particularly Ayurveda, to prescribe defined modern medicines in specified circumstances. But critics argue that Maharashtra has gone further by linking CCMP qualification to MMC registration.The matter, therefore, is bigger than whether a homoeopath can prescribe a particular modern drug – and also about who can be recognised, registered and regulated as a practitioner of modern medicine, and under what law.The IMA and members of the Maharashtra Medical Council first challenged Maharashtra’s move in the Bombay High Court in 2014. The Supreme Court later asked the High Court to expedite the matter, but the issue has remained unresolved.- EndsPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 14:02 IST