Ayush Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha gets fourth extension
Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha
by a year till June 28, 2026.
This will be his fourth extension on the post. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension in the tenure of Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, on contract basis for a period of one year beyond June 28, 2025, up to June 28, 2025, on existing terms and conditions, said an order issued by the Personnel Ministry.
Kotecha is among the select group of
lateral entry appointees
who were picked by the Centre as specialists for government departments.
In another departure from the convention of appointing a bureaucrat to the top post, the Centre had in 2017 appointed him as the Secretary of the Ministry of Ayush (
Ayurveda
, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy).
He was given two-year extensions twice, first in 2020 and then in 2022. In June last year, his tenure was extended by one more year, which was to end on June 28, 2025.
Kotecha, who was a chief consultant at the Chakrapani Ayurveda Clinic in Jaipur, was appointed as a Special Secretary in the
Ayush Ministry
in June 2017. Later, he was appointed as the secretary.
The Ayush Ministry was formed on November 9, 2014, to revive the profound knowledge of ancient systems of medicine with focused attention towards education and research in Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
Earlier, the Department of
Indian System of Medicine
and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) formed in 1995 was responsible for the development of these systems.
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However, the ideas gradually receded after Pandit Madhusudan Gupta conducted the first human dissection. Gupta was a Bengali Baidya and Ayurvedic practitioner who was well-versed and trained in Western medicine. Since the incident, many Indians from diverse social groups opted for the education due to the status of being a 'doctor' and a chance to get into the Company's medical service. The first batch of the Medical College of Bengal was passed in 1839. The first principal of the medical college, Dr M J Bramley, felt the need to send some of the bright students should be sent to England to complete their education. Dr SCG Chuckerbutty is claimed to be the first Indian medical graduate to join the Indian Medical Service in 1855. It was an editorial note on the Progress of Science that appeared in the Medical Times and Gazette, London, in 1852. The editorial note appreciated Chuckerbutty and his friends for their contribution to the progress of the science of medicine. 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It was after 1858 that the registration of the native doctors with the General Medical Council (GMC) was made mandatory, as mentioned by Jeffery R in his book Recognising India's doctors: The institutionalisation of medical dependency. In the case of female medical education, the North India Medical School for Women in Ludhiana, founded by Dr Edith Mary Brown in 1894, was the pioneering medical institution in Asia dedicated solely to women's medical education. It started with just four women. It eventually became the Women's Christian Medical College and was later renamed Christian Medical College (CMC) Ludhiana. When it comes to female pioneers in the field of medical education, two names are first highlighted: Dr Anandibai Joshi and Kadambini Ganguly. While many claim that Joshi was the first woman to go abroad and complete her medical education, only a few people know about Ganguly, who is the first one. Born in 1862 in Bihar, Kadambini's father, Brajkishore Basu, was a headmaster of a school. Even in her school, she and a peer were the only two girls who aspired for higher education. She completed her BA from Bethune in 1882 and became the first woman graduate in Bengal, along with Chandramukhi Bose. After marriage, her husband became a supporter of her. This eventually led to the completion of her medical degree from Calcutta Medical College in 1886. Another woman, Anandibai Joshi, completed her medical education from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
