April 10, 2024, will be remembered as a day when Supreme Court judges used harsh violent words that have never been spoken in the annals of the judiciary, not even against terrorists and serial killers. Patanjali faces strict penalties because of unrealistic and untested claims it made about its medicines, based on a complaint by IMA – a voluntary body of doctors that has no statutory standing. Some people are confused between IMA and MCI (the statutory body of doctors).
First my disclaimer – I used to be impressed with the success of Baba Ramdev in his quest to popularise yoga and create awareness among the common people. Suddenly you found millions of people doing some yoga or the other on the ground, at home and most of them benefitted. I was very happy to see his success in selling Ayurvedic formulations and other popular Ayurvedic medicines, helping common citizens take advantage of 5000 year old healing system. His foray into FMCG with aggressive pricing saw him beat MNCs at their own game. This success made him a target of envy. Pharma and FMCG lobby began their sly campaigns against him but no wrong was found by competent authorities in his manufacturing facilities.
However, I was unhappy when Baba Ramdev went into avoidable consumer products, perhaps, led down the garden path by her selfish ‘chelas’. Entering the arena of textiles, garments, unhealthy bakery products etc went against his proclaimed goal. I was dismayed and disillusioned when he took over a sick soya unit. Ayurveda rejects any kind of processed food but he promoted soya products only for profits. Biggest problem was his mouth. He could not control his speech and paid a price. If Baba spoke less and let his products do the talk, he could have been more effective.
He has excellent clinical trial facilities and laboratories too. However, overselling ‘Coronil’ became an albatross around his neck. IMA latched on to this chance. At that time many other pharma companies were selling products for ‘immunity’ and so on with tall claims. I know of many people who got cured with Coronil, saving lot of money. Isn’t it a fact that millions of Indians survived Covid with the help of age-old recipes of different kinds of ‘kaadhas’ and other immunity-boosting substances.
I know of lakhs of RSS workers and other good Samaritans who served the society fearlessly during those months, following ayurveda practices of pranayama, gargling, jal-neti, and consuming ‘kaadha’. Very few succumbed to Covid and much lesser numbers died of Covid. Imagine if we Bharatiyas did not have the benefit of traditional remedies, could the allopathy community have managed this disaster with limited resources?
No system is infallible
Surely Ayurveda practitioners make mistakes, Ramdev also made mistakes. Why are allopathy practitioners not questioned even now after so much is known now? Vicks 500 was banned. AstraZeneca faces a case for serious problems post Covid vaccine. J&J paid 48 million USD for its cancer-causing talcum powder. Was it stopped immediately in India?
I fell sick with Covid19 in first wave and I was in ICU for 8 days. I was saved by Remsidivir, God’s own gift to mankind at that time. But, by the time of phase 2, it became an outcast!
Allopathy practitioners’ and pharma companies’ antipathy for traditional systems
A pharmacology scientist in USA once asked me, “How come Allopathy born just two centuries back is mainstream and Ayurveda that is around for 5000 years is Alternative medicine?” It is obvious that allopathy practitioners have strong reservations and animosity for traditional medicines that are around for thousands of years and kept people healthy. I will not get into details; but request you to read Dharampal’s book on “Science and Technology in India in 18th Century”. Why did not IMA kind of organisations ever research or presented the wonderful medical achievements of our ancestors and never put up statues of rishis like Sushrut or Charak while western world acknowledged their contribution to medicine? You find a statue of Sushrut in Australia but not in IMA or MCI premises!
To help you find an answer, I will quote Dr Jayalal (the then Chairman of IMA) here, courtesy of Firstpost –
“The most common system is modern medicine based on scientific evidence. The government of India, because of their cultural value and traditional belief in the Hindutva, believes in a system called Ayurveda,” he said in a recent interview with Christianity Today.
“For the last three or four years, they have tried to replace modern medicine with this. Now, you will have to study this alongside Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, homoeopathy, yoga, and naturopathy […]They want to make it one nation, one system of medicine. Next, they will want to make it one religion. This is also based on the Sanskrit language, which is always traditionally based on the Hindu principles. This is an indirect way for the government to introduce the language of Sanskrit and language of Hindutva into the minds of the people,” he said in the interview. […] “I am able to see, even amid persecution, even amid difficulties, even amid the control by the government, even among the restrictions we face in openly proclaiming the message, by various means and ways, Christianity is growing.”
Was it this hate for ‘Hindu’ medicine that made him move the courts against Patanjali, because we don’t remember him or IMA rushing to courts against other manufacturers? He is not a lone voice. I have heard many doctors oppose government’s efforts to create an integrated view of health industry for affordable healthcare – not just curative but preventive too. Allopathy begins with ‘cure’, Ayurveda starts with prevention. As inheritors of our great scientific knowledge, we need to get over this blind pro-western bias.
Selective Ethics
IMA’s grouse against Patanjali shows that it cares for people and is like a watchdog of medical ethics. Does it fulfil this duty? Around last year a young man Revant Himatsingka was sent a strong legal notice from the topmost legal firm of India for calling out their client’s health drink by highlighting its contents as appearing on its wrapper. IMA never came out to support the poor man. It was NCPCR that filed a complaint against the company as it was a matter of children’s health. After some months, the MNC quietly reduced the sugar content by about 15%.
Fair & Lovely cream was forced to change its name to Glowing & Lovely; not because IMA intervened, but because USA agencies raised a ruckus over racist bias in its advertisements. I can go on and on. Health drinks containing dangerous levels of caffeine and sugar, soft drinks advertising adventurous life but containing carcinogenic contents, OTC tablets claiming great efficacy against cold and cough, proteins and other nutraceuticals claiming healthy body, toothpaste giving pearly white teeth within a few brush strokes. The list is endless.
I do not recall any forceful intervention from IMA. Is it because IMA gets sponsorships from the FMCG and Pharma industries? Is it because they charge fees for endorsing FMCG products to raise funds, incidentally, without disclosing to the consumers that they are not an authorised government agency but a private association?
SC has opened up a larger issue of ethics of profiteering of pharmaceutical and FMCG manufacturers. Should only Patanjali be made an example in this game of overselling and outrageous advertisements by many companies that are virtually a fraud on customers – some ably supported with endorsements from organisations like IMA? This profiteering by companies by fooling the gullible customer must stop.
I think, with this case, the Supreme Court has done a yeoman service to the common citizen, its harsh unparliamentary language notwithstanding. But it is not enough to ‘rip apart’ Patanjali and government officers who kept their eyes and ears blissfully shut. I think, I speak for everyone when I appeal to the courts to set up a committee under its supervision or direct the Ministry of Health to set up a watchdog committee that keeps an eagle-like watch on Pharma, Ayurveda and FMCG companies’ exploitation of consumer ignorance.
