New Delhi, Jun 26: People, across the world fighting the pandemic, are yet to get the medicine, but they should not be ‘misled’ by drugs claiming to be COVID cure without scientific standards.
This was observed by experts belonging to medical and other major fields on Friday, a day after Maharashtra and Rajasthan banned the sale of Patanjali’s new drug.
Incidentally, the Ayush ministry has directed Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved to stop advertising and publishing its claims about its recently launched Covid-19 treatment medicines.
The ministry has maintained that it was neither aware of the facts of Patanjali’s claims nor cognisant about the scientific study carried out on the formulations.
Meanwhile, Patanjali director Balkrishna said-” We are not saying the medicine is specifically for Covid-19.”
The ministry has now asked Patanjali to provide it with details of the medicines and results data of the study.
“This is a welcome move as finding an effective treatment for Covid is serious business. All medicines and vaccines have to undergo rigorous trials and scientific validation processes. Therefore, one should be extremely wary of drugs being proclaimed as Covid cures without going through Government approved processes,” medical experts maintained.
They said such unverified cures would end up doing more harm as people may avoid scientific treatment protocols and go for these so-called magic potions, thinking they are thereby protected from infection. With more than 4.5 lakh Covid cases and counting in India, the experts pointed out, “The last thing we need is people falling for unapproved drugs and becoming super-spreaders”.
Informatively, the Ayush ministry had issued a circular to states on June 2 to take necessary action against instances of misleading information, fake claims and misbranding of products in relation to Covid control, pointing out the regulatory framework for alternative medicines has been weak.
“Ayurveda may embody ancient Indian medical wisdom. But, it’s an application in the 21st century must adhere to recognised scientific protocols. This is no time for alchemy”, the experts observed in unison.
