Addressees not found, 35k practitioners deregistered

LUCKNOW: The names of about 35,000 practitioners of the Indian systems of medicine have been struck off the register of the Board of Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbi Systems of Medicine Uttar Pradesh as these members were not found at their given address when letters were sent to them.

The Board had dispatched the letters to about a lakh such practitioners as it sought their votes to elect state council members. About 35,000 letters were “not received” as the addressees were not found at the given address, the postal department said. “Every election, we conduct this exercise for two purposes -- first, to get votes for the state council members and second, to verify whether the registered practitioners are staying at their given address. The names of those who do not respond are struck off the registration register. This time, the number was about 35,000,” said Dr Akhilesh Kumar Verma, the board registrar. After the removal of these names, there are 42,372 ‘ayurvedacharyas’ and 16,306 ‘hakeems’ left on the registration register of the board.“Apart from striking off the names of those who

THE BOARD’S REGISTRATION PROCESS IS CONDUCTED IN TWO WAYS. THE FIRST METHOD IS ADOPTED WITH THE HELP OF AADHAAR CARDS AND VIA EMAIL

did not reply to our letter, we also removed the names of the registered practitioners who, according to their registration documents, are over 100 years of age,” Dr Verma said.

The board’s registration process is conducted in two ways. The first method is adopted with the help of Aadhaar cards and via email. So, if an Ayurveda or Unani degree holder sends her or his Aadhaar and degree details, their names are registered or the registration is renewed. Under the second system, all those who do not send any documents online are sent registered post.“This is because many practitioners of the Indian systems of medicine are not in the habit of using cell phones/emails and, hence, they respond to our registered post,” Dr Verma said.