Lucknow, Dec 11 (IANS): OPD services in private hospitals and nursing home remained largely unaffected on Friday in response to the nationwide call for strike against the 'mixotherapy' -- the government notification authorizing postgraduate practitioners in specified streams of Ayurveda to be trained to perform general surgical procedures.

The Lucknow doctors in private hospitals said that they would opt for a symbolic strike for one-hour in the afternoon on Friday but if the government did not take back its notification, they would consider a 'more serious' form of protest.

"The decision to allow Ayurvedic doctors to perform surgeries after training is dangerous," said S.K. Singh, a doctor who owns a private nursing home.

"This amounts to playing with the lives of patients. Surgeons are qualified and have sufficient experience to perform surgical procedure. A simple training is not enough."

Two other doctors who practice in private hospitals in Kanpur, said, "It is the same if we are allowed to prescribe Ayurveda drugs with having basic knowledge."

"I really do not know whose idea this is but it can throw many human lives in a jeopardy. If surgery was this simple, why have MBBS and MS courses for medical students?" said Priya Mathur, a gynaecologist.

A retired police officer, meanwhile, recalled how a quack doctor in Sitapur, in the late nineties, was arrested for the death of about half a dozen patients on whom he had performed surgical operations without having requisite surgical competence.

Meanwhile, the government spokesman said that the strike on Friday, did not have any impact on health services.

"All our hospitals are working and emergency services are in place. The impact of the strike is negligible," he said.