What is BAMS and what do you study in it?

Year-by-year structure

The course is organised into phases, each ending in a university examination conducted by RGUHS:

• First professional year (18 months) — Samhita & Siddhanta, Rachana Shareera (Anatomy), Kriya Shareera (Physiology), Sanskrit
• Second professional year (18 months) — Dravyaguna, Rasashastra & Bhaishajya Kalpana, Roga Nidana, Agada Tantra, Charaka Samhita (Purvardha)
• Third professional year (18 months) — Kayachikitsa, Panchakarma, Shalya Tantra, Shalakya Tantra, Prasuti Tantra & Stri Roga, Kaumarabhritya, Swasthavritta, Research Methodology
• Compulsory rotatory internship (12 months) — Rotations across hospital departments, panchakarma unit, operation theatre, community postings and medical camps

Departments you will rotate through

Teaching is departmental, and each department maintains a museum or laboratory:

• Rachana Shareera (Anatomy) — Human anatomy taught through cadaveric dissection alongside the classical Ayurvedic description of the body — marma, srotas, asthi and sandhi.
• Kriya Shareera (Physiology) — Tridosha, dhatu and agni physiology studied together with modern systemic physiology and clinical examination of the healthy individual.
• Samhita and Siddhanta — Direct study of Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita and Ashtanga Hridaya, with the philosophical principles that underpin Ayurvedic reasoning.
• Dravyaguna Vijnana (Ayurvedic Pharmacology) — Medicinal plants — identification, rasa-guna-virya-vipaka, pharmacology and therapeutic use — taught with a live 3,100 sq m herbal garden.
• Rasashastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana — Ayurvedic pharmaceutics — preparing kashaya, churna, asava-arishta, taila, bhasma and modern quality-control testing.
• Agada Tantra evam Vyavahara Ayurveda — Toxicology, forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence as they apply to an Ayurvedic registered medical practitioner.
• Swasthavritta and Yoga — Preventive medicine, public health, dinacharya-ritucharya and yoga practice — the wellness and lifestyle core of Ayurveda.
• Prasuti Tantra evam Stri Roga (Obstetrics & Gynaecology) — Ayurvedic and modern obstetrics and gynaecology with hospital labour-room and OPD training.
• Kaumarabhritya (Paediatrics) — Child health from neonatal care to adolescence — suvarnaprashana, immunisation, growth monitoring and paediatric disease management.
• Shalya Tantra (Surgery) — Ayurvedic surgery and parasurgical procedures — kshara sutra, agnikarma, raktamokshana — with modern surgical principles.
• Shalakya Tantra (ENT, Ophthalmology & Dentistry) — Diseases above the clavicle — eye, ear, nose, throat, head and oral cavity — with netra kriyakalpa and nasya procedures.
• Research & Statistics — Research methodology, biostatistics and publication support — the college is a government-approved scientific research institution.

Clinical and practical training

Practical work is the point of the degree. Students dissect in Rachana Shareera, prepare classical formulations in the pharmacy lab, identify living plants in a 3,100 sq m herbal garden with about 200 species, and treat patients in the NABH-accredited teaching hospital's OPD, IPD, panchakarma unit and operation theatre.

The internship year

The compulsory rotatory internship rotates you through every clinical department, the panchakarma unit, the operation theatre and community postings and medical camps. Registration as a practitioner follows successful completion of this year.