A doctors’ association has given a call for a nationwide protest against the remarks made by yoga guru Baba Ramdev. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) issued a release in which it said that June 1 will be observed as ‘Black Day’.<\/p>\n
The India Medical Association (IMA) vigorously opposed Baba Ramdev’s controversial statement, made last week, and demanded action against him.<\/p>\n
They have accused Baba Ramdev of dangerously maligning the field of allopathy to his mass following and said, \u201cIt is stated that the accused being a businessman, in order to take advantage of the present situation and his large public following, is willfully and deliberately advancing dishonest representations\u2026 about allopathy and modern medicine\u2026 and to swindle them into parting with their monies by taking Swami Ramdev\u2019s unapproved and dubious drugs,\u201d the IMA said in a 14-page complaint sent to the Center.<\/p>\n
The call has been given to condemn the \u201cderogatory and distasteful statements\u201d made by Baba Ramdev, FORDA said. It added that patient care will not be hampered by the day-long protest.<\/p>\n
In Swami Ramdev’s controversial video heavily circulating through social media, he said that allopathy is a “stupid science” and medicines such as remdesivir, Fabiflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat COVID-19 patients.\u00a0 He had also said, \u00a0\u201clakhs of patients have died after taking allopathic medicines”.<\/p>\n
The IMA said that Ramdev should be prosecuted under the Epidemic Diseases Act as “untutored” statements are “a threat to the literate society of the country as well as to the poor people falling prey to him”.<\/p>\n
In a powerfully-worded statement, the doctor’s body said, “The Union health minister (Harsh Vardhan) who himself is a practising modern medicine allopathic postgraduate and head of this (health) ministry, should either accept the challenge and accusation of this gentleman and dissolve the modern medical facility or boldly face and prosecute the person for his words of arson on the sovereignty of the country and book him under the Epidemic Act to save millions of people from such unscientific utterances.”<\/p>\n
Presently Baba Ramdev has taken back his statement, but it apparently has caused fresh doubts about modern medicine in the minds of many of his followers leading to the fury of individual doctors who are now hitting out at him.<\/p>\n
A senior resident doctor, in an article for The Print, noted that after the video, people have started questioning her intentions behind the treatment protocols. She rued, “They (patients) demand that I remove all those drugs that Ramdev, India\u2019s favourite yoga influencer, claims have \u2018failed\u2019, including steroids and remdesivir. Instead, they want an unproven herbal concoction from Ramdev\u2019s kitchen \u2014 \u2018Coronil\u2018 \u2014 to be put on top of the treatment chart. Even if I don\u2019t heed these demands, I know they will self-medicate themselves with it.”<\/p>\n
If Coronil was the magic cure, why is it not being used all over India, or even with a huge upstart in Haryana?\u00a0 If there were powerful verified cases of people seriously ill with COVID who were ill and cured, why is it not highlighted?<\/p>\n
Baba Ramdev said more than 100 compounds have been used in Coronil. The entire kit will help in strengthening immunity. Patanjali prescribes two tablets are to be taken with hot water half an hour after each meal. This quantity is suitable for people between 15 to 80 years of age, the company says. Children between the age of 6-14 years can take this medicine, but the dosage should be half of what is prescribed for adults.<\/p>\n
According to Baba Ramdev, the company conducted two-stage trials. The first was a clinical controlled study that took place in Delhi, Ahmedabad, and many other cities. Under this, 280 patients were included and 100 percent of those recovered, he said. After controlling the disease and its complications, the all-important clinical control trial was conducted, said Ramdev.<\/p>\n
He claims those administered the medicine were fully cured and none died. Ramdev even claimed that 69 percent of them recovered within three days. He said that 100 percent recovery was seen in seven days.<\/p>\n
However, the efficacy of Patanjali\u2019s medicine on the Covid-19 cure has not been corroborated by any independent medical body as of yet. The World Health Organization (WHO) again recently reiterated that while several drug trials are ongoing, there is currently no proof that any drug can cure or prevent Covid-19.<\/p>\n
India has been battling the pandemic and the number of Covid-19 cases neared 4.5 lakh cases recently with over 331,607 deaths.<\/p>\n
There are now over three million deaths by the pandemic since it broke out in China\u2019s Wuhan city in December 2019.<\/p>\n
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