12 AYUSH doctors contracted to Medical Officer posts in PHCs in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh report numerous lacunae in the implementation of the mainstreaming initiatives in the NRHM:13 job perquisites are not indicated; no benefits http://www.selleckchem.com/products/mek162.html or allowances are

provided for health, housing or education, and compensation packages are much lower than those of allopathic doctors. Support for AYUSH practice is also inadequate (lack of infrastructure, trained assistants and drug supply) and unethical practices have also been reported (documenting attendance of absentees, and non-cooperation from non-AYUSH personnel). Evidence from NRHM suggests that reshuffled AYUSH providers practise forms of medicine beyond the scope of their training.14 Paradoxically, moreover, some Indian states prohibit cross-system prescription, adding ethical dilemmas for TCA practitioners who serve as the only medical practitioners in resource-poor areas.14 On

a larger scale, current practices of integration (as in NRHM) have been described as substitution and replacement; which tend to ignore the merits of TCAM and present more barriers than facilitators of integration.7 In particular, given the strong push towards co-location and other strategies of integration as part of India’s move towards Universal Health Coverage, the integration of AYUSH practitioners could result in a doubling of the health workforce. Yet there are strong fears that such an emphasis on quantitative aspects of integration, that is, having the right number of practitioners placed at facilities, is inadequate. There is a need to critically and qualitatively appraise the government infrastructure to support TCA, identify barriers and facilitators to integration that have emerged from this rapid placement of these practitioners, and how these TCA practitioners, allopathic practitioners and health system

actors are reacting and adapting to each factor. Methods This analysis draws from a larger mixed-methods implementation research study aimed at understanding operational and ethical challenges in integration of TCA providers for delivery of essential health services in three Indian states. The study looked at the contents and Brefeldin_A implementation of TCA provider integration policies in three states, and at the national level it examined the understanding and interpretations of integration from the perspectives of different health system actors. These, coupled with their experiences in the actual processes of integration of TCA providers, were studied using qualitative interview methods to help identify systemic and ethical challenges. Based on this, the study sought to derive strategies to augment the integration of TCA providers in the delivery of essential health services. Our study was based on action-centred frameworks15 with a focus on policy actors and processes.16 We have therefore sought to understand the implementation of integration policies empirically.