Ever since yoga guru Baba Ramdev made controversial remarks against the modern allopathic medicine system, the Indian Medical Association has launched a full-fledged attack on him. On Saturday, the association had released a statement demanding action against Ramdev for his comments. The IMA had said that govt should either accept his views and abolish the modern medical system or prosecute him and book him under the Epidemic Diseases Act.
However, while launching the scathing attack against the founder of Patanjali, the IMA also ended up praising the Indian healthcare system for its handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Refuting the allegations of Ramdev that ‘Allopathy is stupid and bankrupt science which failed to combat the pandemic in the country’, IMA said that the country has actually done better than even developed countries with highly advanced medical facilities. The IMA said that “millions of people struggling hard to survive and breathe with COVID-19 pneumonia and associated complications were nurtured, cared and resuscitated to have a normal life by burning midnight oil and altruistic care by these dedicated doctors and their team.”
The statement issued by the association then said, “what the highly advanced developed countries could not achieve, in India, Indian hospitals and modern medical doctors could achieve to contain the COVID-19 mortality around one percent, amidst lack of adequate infrastructure, materials, and manpower by their sheer dedication and the commitment of consecrating their life and skills to alleviate the sufferings of humanity.”
While the IMA has been critical of the govt over various aspects related to Covid-19, the organisation also accepted that the official death figures released by the govt are correct. By saying that the allopathic doctors in the country have been able to “contain the COVID-19 mortality around one percent”, the IMA essentially refuted the claims by left-liberal media and opposition parties that Covid-19 deaths in the country are highly under-reported.
According to Govt of India data, 3 lakh people have died of Covid-19 in India, among the 2.34 crore people infected by the virus. This means the IMA is saying that the Covid-19 death numbers released by the govt are correct.
