How Many Ministers Use AYUSH, Yoga for COVID? IMA Asks Dr Vardhan

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

(Photo: PTI)

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), on Thursday, 8 October, shared a press release, asking Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan “what Is stopping him from handing over COVID care and control to AYUSH ministry?”

In a strongly worded press-release, the IMA has demanded answers to five questions from the Union Health Minister, on a document released by him prescribing protocol of prevention and treatment of asymptomatic as well as mild cases of COVID-19 based on AYUSH and yoga.

IMA further asked Dr Vardhan how many of his ministerial colleagues have so far made the “informed choice” of getting treated under the AYUSH and yoga protocols prescribed by him.

What Science Demands

The press release states that Dr Vardhan has arraigned “impressive names of institutions to support his prescription.” It also states that the Union Health minister himself admits that his prescription is based on empirical evidence.

“…which means that the evidence is anecdotal and based on individual subjective experiences.”   

IMA

IMA further states that science demands:

1. Reproducibility of clam elsewhere in non conflict situations
2. Double Blind Control studies

Five Questions

Pointing out that the Union Health Minister is “a modern medicine doctor”, the IMA has posed five questions to him:

“1. Is there satisfactory evidence regarding the claims made from studies done on COVID 19 patients based on the above criteria (what science demands)? If so whether the evidence is weak or moderate or strong? The evidence should be in public domain and available for scientific scrutiny.

2. Whether the severe form of COVID 19 (is) a hyperimmune status or an immune deficiency status?

3. Whether the proponents of this claim and his Ministry are prepared to subject themselves as volunteers to an independent prospective Double Blind Control Study in prevention and treatment of COVID?

4. How many of his ministerial colleagues have so far made the informed choice of getting treated under these protocols?

5. What is stopping him from handing over COVID care and control to AYUSH ministry?”

IMA asked the Union Health Minister to “come clean on the above posers”, adding:

“If not he is inflicting a fraud on the nation and gullible patients by calling placebos as drugs.”

Background

According to PTI, the Union Health Minister had, on Tuesday, released a protocol for the clinical management of COVID-19. This protocol reportedly spelled out dietary measures, yoga and Ayurvedic herbs and formulations for prevention of COVID-19 infection and treatment of mild infection and asymptomatic patients.

India, as of Friday, 9 October, has 8,93,592 active cases of reported COVID-19 infections, according to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

(With inputs from PTI.)