On Saturday, a First information report (FIR) was reportedly lodged against yoga guru Baba Ramdev for marketing ‘Coronil’, an Ayurvedic drug, as a cure for Coronavirus, without the approval of Ayush Ministry. The FIR was registered by the Jyoti Nagar police station in Rajasthan, on the basis of a complaint by an advocate Balram Jakhar who practices in the Rajasthan High Court.
Besides Ramdev, the FIR has pressed charges against the Managing Director of Patanjali Ayurved, Acharya Balkrishna, senior scientist Anurag Varshney, the director of NIMS, BS Tomar, and his son Anurag Tomar. Additional Commissioner of Police (Jaipur), Ashok Gupta, informed that a case was registered against the people, mentioned above, on the basis of a complaint by Jakhar. He further stated that multiple complaints were received against Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved at several police stations in the State.
They have been booked under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complainant stated that in a press conference on June 23, Baba Ramdev claimed that an Ayurved drug manufactured by the Patanjali Research Institute in Hardiwar could cure Coronavirus. Citing the dismissal of these claims by the Ayush Ministry and the Centre, advocate Balram Jakhar added, “It (Patanjali Ayurved) has not verified that the medicine fulfils the parameters of WHO and AYUSH Ministry. Therefore, this attempt reeks of criminal intent, and therefore, I lodged an FIR at Jyotinagar police station under various sections of the law.”
Patanjali and NIMS defend Coronil
In his defence, Acharya Balkrishna had earlier clarified that all procedures were followed during the manufacture of Coronil and refuted claims of wrongdoings while obtaining the licence. NIMS Chairman Balbir Singh Tomar said, “We had all required permissions for conducting the trial on patients. Prior permission for testing was taken from CTRI, which is a body of ICMR. I have papers to show permission.” He said that trials were conducted on 100 patients at NIMS in Jaipur and 69 per cent of them were cured in three days, while 100 per cent were cured in seven days. He said, “The question of whether Coronil should have been propagated as an immunity booster or cure should be asked from Patanjali. We had informed the Rajasthan health department on June 2.”
Rajasthan’s Health Department has also issued a notice to NIMS hospital here seeking an explanation on conducting trials of Coronil made by by Patanjali on coronavirus patients.
Baba Ramdev launches Coronavirus treatment kit
Amidst rising cases of Coronavirus in the country, Patanjali Ayurved—the entity run by renowned Yoga guru Ramdev had launched an Ayurvedic medicine combination that claimed to cure the Wuhan originated Coronavirus disease within 3-7 days. The Ayurveda based pharmaceutical company launched a kit containing ‘Coronil’ tablets, Swasri tablet, and Anu oil, claiming that these ayurvedic medicines have shown up to 100 percent favourable results during the clinical trials. In addition, the clinical trials have reportedly revealed that the usage of the aforesaid medicine resulted in the reduction of hsCRP and IL-6 levels in the treatment group as compared to the placebo group. The Ayurvedic treatment also showed weaker IL-6 response causing a lesser chance of cytokine storm.
