Ramdev Launches ‘Miracle’ COVID-19 Drug; Govt Raises Questions
As Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali launches “cure” for COVID-19, critical questions remain.
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On 23 June, Baba Ramdev claimed that his company, Patanjali Ayurveda Limited, had found the cure to COVID-19 in an ayurvedic medicine named ‘Coronil’. He claimed that this can not only cure COVID-19 patients but also protects against the virus.
However, this claim made by Ramdev was soon critically questioned by the central government's AYUSH ministry.
Ramdev had further claimed that the ‘miracle medicine’ had passed clinical trials and was tested on at least 100 people. He claimed that within three days, 65 percent of those infected had been cured and that within seven days, the recovery rate was 100 percent.
The AYUSH Ministry then came forward and said that it had no knowledge of the claims made by Patanjali nor Ramdev. It also asked Patanjali to furnish details of the medicine, the trials conducted and the research done.
It further said that Patanjali must also provide details of the hospitals where the trials were conducted, where the medicines were registered and what the results of the trials were.
The Ministry also asked the State Licensing Authority of Uttarakhand, where Patanjali is based, to provide them with copies of the license for the medicine and the "product approval status" regarding this specific "corona-drug".
It also warned Patanjali to "stop advertising such claims till they are duly examined."
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