How to Choose an Ayurvedic Doctor Online: What to Check

Start with the qualification

In India, an Ayurvedic doctor should hold a BAMS degree — Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery — a five-and-a-half-year course that includes a year's internship. Some go on to postgraduate study (MD or MS in Ayurveda) in a specialty.

BAMS doctors are not MBBS doctors. They practise Ayurveda, and should not be prescribing or adjusting modern (allopathic) medicines for you.

Check that they are registered

Practising Ayurveda in India requires registration with a State Board or Council of Indian Medicine, under the national framework run by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM).

India's Telemedicine Practice Guidelines say a practitioner consulting online should display their registration number — on their prescriptions, and on the website and messages they use. It is fair to ask for it, and a good practitioner will not mind.

Know what video can and can't do

A video consultation works well for long-running concerns where a detailed history matters: digestion, skin, hair fall, sleep, stress, cycle-related problems. A doctor can go through your history, routine and reports, and look at your tongue, skin or scalp on camera.

It cannot replace an examination by touch — including pulse examination (nadi pariksha) — or tests. A careful doctor will tell you when something needs to be seen in person, and will never treat an emergency online.

What a good consultation looks like

• Time to talk: a proper history takes longer than five minutes.
• Questions about your current medicines, and advice not to stop any without your prescribing doctor.
• A written plan you can refer back to: diet, routine, and any medicines with name, dose and duration.
• Freedom to buy any suggested medicine where you like, from a licensed manufacturer.
• Clear prices before you pay, and a published refund policy.

Red flags

• A promise to cure, reverse or permanently fix a disease, or a guaranteed timeline.
• Advice to stop insulin, blood-pressure, thyroid, psychiatric or any other prescribed medicine.
• Pressure to buy an expensive kit or subscription before anyone has assessed you.
• No name, qualification or registration you can check.
• Unlabelled powders or pills, or products with no manufacturer's licence details.

Some Ayurvedic products sold online have been found to contain lead, mercury or arsenic. Buy only from licensed manufacturers and pharmacies, and tell your other doctors what you take.