From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Belagavi, Dec 2: In a bid to launch a stringent clamp down on fake Ayush doctors and other quacks, Karnataka has come out with a legal provision to make the registration of Ayurvedic, Naturopathy, Sidda, Unani and Yoga practitioners mandatory in the State.

Non-registration of Ayush practitioners or any violation of the law would attract penalty of Rs 25,000 for the first offence, Rs 2 lakh and imprisonment of one year for the second offence and Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment for three years for the third offence. 

To check fake doctors and eliminate non-registration of Ayush doctors, the State Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Karnataka Ayurvedic, Naturopathy, Sidda, Unani and Yoga Practitioners Registration and Medical Practitioners Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Karnataka’s Health and Family Welfare Minister K R Ramesh Kumar, who piloted the Bill, promised that steps would be taken to provide protection for 'native doctors' while framing the rules under the Act.

Under the new proposed legislation, all Ayush doctors from other states have to register in the State.

The Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation during Emergency Situations) Bill was also passed.

Planting of saplings of eucalyptus and acacia on government and private lands is sought to be banned as per another bill, passed the Karnataka Preservation of Trees (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Planting of these samplings were detrimental to the environment and caused groundwater depletion.

The Assembly passed four other bills: the Karnataka Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Second Amendment) Bill 2016; the Karnataka Cooperative Societies (SecondAmendment Bill) 2016; and the Karnataka Souharda Sahakari (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016.