Coronil: Centre asks Patanjali to stop publicity, give details of COVID drug

Guwahati: In the aftermath of Patanjali launching an ayurvedic drug meant to cure Covid-19, the Union Ministry of AYUSH has asked the company "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 from data of the study and stop advertising or publicizing such claims till the issue is duly examined."

At the same time, the Ministry has also requested concerned State Licensing Authority of Uttrakhand Government to provide copies of license and product approval details of the Ayurvedic medicines being claimed for the treatment of the infectious disease.

"The concerned Ayurvedic drug manufacturing company has been informed 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 Central Government in the wake of COVID outbreak", the Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Patanjali launched an ayurvedic medicine for treating COVID-19 at the Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar. Baba Ramdev, the face of the multi-crore Indian giant, said that the medicine will be tested even on people who are on ventilators.

Terming the ayurvedic medicine as "not an immunity booster but a cure", Ramdev said that an app will soon be launched for the delivery of the Corona kit. "0% death rate and a 100% recovery rate has been observed after the usage of the product. While 69% of the people recovered within 6 days, 100% of the people recovered within a week, Baba Ramdev claimed, adding that "all questions" relating to this new product will be answered soon.

Meanwhile, there has been a mad scramble among Governments to find a cure for the virus that has affected millions across the world. Internationally, the disease has so far affected 9,226,248 persons, while 475,077 people have died due to the respiratory illness.

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