Patna: The Ayush Medical Association has demanded the Bihar government adopt a lenient approach towards 3,021 ayush practitioners working on contract in government facilities.

The association on Sunday pointed out that these "doctors" are posted around 200-400km from their home districts. They added the women are the worst-hit in this case.

So, the association has demanded the government to address the problem at the earliest.

The demands were raised during a state working committee meeting of the Ayush Medical Association here on Sunday. The ayush practitioners also demanded the government to engage them in health sub-centres and other government health facilities.

Association president Dr Madhurendu Pandey said he had communicated the demands of the ayush practitioners, including posting of choice and transfer demand, to chief minister Nitish Kumar and health minister Mangal Pandey.

But Pandey said both of them expressed their helplessness to address the situation.

"I will still request the chief minister to give a second thought to the matter, as ayush practitioners are facing a lot of problem because of this," Dr Pandey said.

Recruiting more ayush practitioners for state-run hospitals is another of the practitioners' demands.

"An unemployed force of ayush doctors has been created because of irregular recruitment process. Posts of ayush doctors are vacant in many additional primary health centres and primary health centres. The government should fill up the vacancies soon," said Pandey, also demanding that 1,637 ayush doctors working under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram should be given the right to treat patients.

B.B. Upadhyay, Shivmangal Mishra, Amzad Ali, Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Anil Kumar, Yogesh Ojha and others attended the meeting on Sunday.