Indian doctors have decried the decision by a state government to distribute a herbal medicine launched by a yoga guru as a potential remedy for COVID-19.

The medicine in question is Coronil, launched by yoga guru Baba Ramdev's company Patanjali Ayurved last year, as a possible COVID-19 cure, although the claim is yet to be proven.

Reuters reported that the northern state of Haryana, ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this week said that it would hand out Coronil to COVID-19 patients for free.

It is worth noting that besides making questionable claims such as the one regarding Coronil, Ramdev had also previously courted controversy with his various other statements, including recently calling conventional medicine "stupid science" that had caused thousands of deaths during the pandemic.

Ramdev has since withdrawn his statement, but not before having a law suit filed against him by the Uttarakhand unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Ajay Khanna, the state secretary of the Uttarakhand IMA, where Patanjali is also headquartered, told Reuters that it is the Haryana government's "loss" for distributing Coronil.

"He is more of a businessman than anything else. To sell his product, he has sparked between allopathic medicine and ayurveda," Khanna rued.

This is not the first time Indians had turned to alleged traditional remedies during the pandemic. They have previously smeared cow dung on the body, and drank trhe animal's urine, in the belief it will ward off COVID-19.

Doctors, however, have said that there was no scientific evidence that such practices can boost one's immunity or ward off illnesses, instead, could boost the risk of one catching other diseases.

India thus far has more than 27.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and over 315,000 deaths from the disease.

The global coronavirus infection and death tally currently stands at over 169 million, and 3.51 million, respectively.


Source: Reuters
Photo source: BBC, businesstoday.in