Doctors in many Indian hospitals have closed outpatient departments and worn black armbands to protest against a government decision to allow practitioners of traditional medicine to carry out minor surgical procedures. 

The country-wide strike was called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the top representative body for doctors. 

“We stood up for India, lost 700 doctors to COVID-19. Your turn now to save modern medicine from mixopathy,” the IMA said in a newspaper advertisement on Friday. 

Ayurveda is a centuries-old traditional system of healing with herbal concoctions and massages that is mentioned in ancient Hindu texts and is still widely practised in India.