The controversy has erupted after the state’s decision to allow CCMP-qualified BHMS doctors to register with the Maharashtra Medical Council. The associations have objected both to the CCMP course and to what it calls ‘dual medical council registration.’ They have opposed granting of Maharashtra Medical Council registration to alternate medicine practitioners after short pharmacology courses arguing that the policy compromises medical standards. The CCMP course has not been approved by the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI), the National Medical Commission (NMC) or the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH). The resident doctors launched an indefinite protest from midnight on August 5 against allowing homoeopaths to register with the MMC and prescribe allopathic medicines, impacting OPD services in state and BMC-run hospitals.