IANS
Hours after yoga guru Ramdev launched a “medicine” for COVID-19, the Indian government Tuesday asked his Patanjali Ayurved Ltd to stop advertising or publicizing the claims till “the issue is duly examined”.
Ramdev Tuesday launched Patanjali’s Coronil tablet, which he claims is a cure for COVID-19. Patanjali claims those administered the medicine were cured fully and none died. Ramdev even said that 69 percent of the patients recovered within three days.
Taking cognizance of media reports, the Ayush ministry — overseeing alternative medicine such as Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy — said that it was unaware of the “facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study”.
It said that the government has informed the company that such advertisements of drugs including ayurvedic medicines are regulated under the provisions of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and Rules thereunder and the directives issued by the federal government in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Ayush ministry also reminded Patanjali of a government gazette notification, issued April 21, asserting the requirements and manner of research required for studies on COVID-19.
A ministry statement said: “In order to make this Ministry aware of the facts of the aforesaid news and verify the claims, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd has been asked to provide at the earliest details of the name and composition of the medicines being claimed for Covid treatment; site(s)/hospital(s), where the research study was conducted for Covid-19; protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration and results data of the study (ies) and stop advertising/publicizing such claims till the issue is duly examined.”
Earlier, Balkrishna, Ramdev’s aide and MD of Patanjali Ayurved, said: “We appointed a team of scientists after COVID-19 outbreak.”
He claimed that Patanjali conducted a clinical case study on “hundreds” of positive patients.
The Ayush ministry has also asked the Uttarakhand government’s licensing authority to provide copies of license and product approval details of the ayurvedic medicines which the yoga guru claimed treat COVID-19, a global pandemic that has the world worried.
Meanwhile, on a more scientific front, three medicines that have been cleared for treating COVID-19 patients are hitting the market in India.
