5 min readMumbaiUpdated: Aug 6, 2026 12:46 PM IST
Around 9.30 pm on Tuesday, Dr Neha Siddharth Pawar was asleep at home, recovering from a fractured hand, when her phone rang. On the other end was Dr Kundlik Gorad, with news that would end a 14-year wait for thousands of doctors like her.
“I was asleep because I’m on medical leave with a fractured hand when the phone rang,” Dr Pawar told The Indian Express. “Dr Kundlik Gorad called and said, ‘Neha, your name has come first. You have become the first registered practitioner.’ I was shocked. Then he told me my name would become part of history.”
Dr Pawar, 36, had just become the first Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP)-qualified homoeopathy practitioner to receive conditional registration from the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), the first such registration granted anywhere in the country, under a framework that lets BHMS graduates who complete the course prescribe modern medicines. Her certificate, Registration No. CCMP/00001/2026, was signed around 8.30 pm, nearly nine hours after protesters first gathered outside the MMC office demanding it.
The sit-in began at 11 am, when members of the Maharashtra State Homoeopathy Action Committee and the Integrated Doctors Association (National) occupied the council’s office and refused to leave until at least one certificate was issued. An MMC official described how the day spiralled. “When we came to work on Tuesday morning, we had no idea we would be here till almost midnight. There was increasing pressure from homoeopathy doctors on the government and later we received instructions to begin registrations. Protesters entered the premises, raised slogans and later came inside our offices. At the same time, we received letters from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and MARD warning of a strike if registrations were granted, while the protesters threatened suicide if they were not registered. We had no choice,” the official said.
Resident doctors at Nair Hospital protest after suspending regular out-patient department services from Wednesday in support of the Central MARD agitation. (Express photo by Akash Patil)
Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif confirmed the government had been under sustained pressure for months. “Homeopathy doctors have held multiple strikes, protests and even hunger strikes on July 7 and 8. On several occasions, homoeopathy doctors came to my office, surrounded me in the evening and said they would not let me go home unless the registrations were granted. This has been going on for months. Things went out of hand last night,” he told The Indian Express.
For Dr Pawar, who enrolled at Mahindra Homeopathic Medical College, Sangamner, in 2008, graduated in 2013 and completed the CCMP course in 2022, the certificate closed a wait that began in medical college. She has run a clinic in Mankhurd since 2017. “Our struggle has always been about recognition and self respect, not against another profession. We are confident in our training and abilities,” she said. What mattered most, she said, wasn’t the paperwork. “The most important thing for me was hearing someone say, ‘Hi, Dr Neha.’ That recognition means everything.”
Doctors at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital protest after suspending regular OPD services on Wednesday. (Express photo by Akash Patil)
The breakthrough lasted only hours. The registration is expressly subject to the outcome of Writ Petition No. 7846 of 2014, pending before the Bombay High Court, and the government froze the process soon after. As of Wednesday, MMC officials confirmed, Dr Pawar remains the only doctor to hold it. “We halted the registration process for the time being after granting one conditional registration on Tuesday night to defuse the situation, as we were under immense pressure,” Mushrif said. “Until there is clarity from the High Court, we will not proceed with any further registrations.” A committee under the Commissioner of Medical Education and Research has been asked to frame competencies, protocols and an ethics framework within a month.
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The allopathic side has not waited for the court. IMA Maharashtra president Dr Santosh Kulkarni said the objection was never to the CCMP course, but to registering its graduates with the MMC when homoeopaths already have a statutory council of their own. “No other profession in India permits dual registration with two statutory councils. Why should Maharashtra make an exception?” he said.
By Wednesday, that objection had shut down OPDs across the state. Central MARD said around 40,000 resident doctors and interns, including 4,500 in Mumbai, joined an indefinite strike across 35 government and five municipal medical colleges, affecting an estimated 57,400 OPD consultations statewide. At Nair Hospital, the waiting list crossed 140 patients by noon. The association has threatened to suspend even emergency services from Thursday if the government does not roll back the registration.
The Integrated Doctors Association’s Kruti Samiti has countered with a threat of its own: a mass protest at Azad Maidan on August 17 if the MMC delays the process any further, with CCMP-qualified doctors from across the state expected to join.
