Unless one has been living under a rock, one would have heard about the recent Coronil row in the news and on social media. In a widely televised event, FMCG and Ayurvedic medicine manufacturer Patanjali announced a cure for COVID-19. Baba Ramdev announced that Coronil had been tested and found to have 100% favourable results on coronavirus patients. However, the AYUSH ministry asked the company to stop advertising the product until the trial results were examined by medical authorities. Some Indian states have also banned the sale of Coronil. Obviously, this sequence of events was a treasure trove for meme-makers to mine.
Many Indians are happy and proud that an Indian company has come up with a swadesi formulation based on an ancient indigenous Indian system of medicine. They were not pleased with this video; however many appreciated it for its satirical humour.
While the World Health Organisation and pharma companies all over the world are still scrambling to refine a treatment protocol for the novel coronavirus, Patanjali has announced a 100% cure.
The health care situation is quickly spiraling out of control in many Indian states. In this situation, people are desperate for a cure and are likely to rush out to buy products; even those that haven’t been properly tested.
Then there were those tweeple who thought that this is the sort of news that WhatsApp uncles love, and instantly repose their complete faith in.
Patanjali announced a ‘Coronavirus cure’ after which the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) announced that they were not involved in this.
The Ayush Ministry (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) issued a statement directing Patanjali Ayurveda to stop advertising their product pending proper approvals/permissions. According to the ministry’s notification, the company has revealed no details of the claims made about the ‘two stage clinical trial’ they claim to have carried out.
As journalist and author Meghnad points out, coronavirus already has a 97% recovery rate.
Then there are those who believe that this is just business; which Baba Ramdev and Patanjali CEO, Acharya Balkrishna, have repeatedly shown an excellent acumen for.
According to the licencing authority, Patanjali had applied for a manufacturing licence for an ‘immunity booster’, cough and fever medicine. The application did not mention coronavirus. While ingredients such as Giloy, Tulsi and Ashwagandha help boost general immunity, it is unclear how they can ‘cure COVID’, or target specific problems it causes such as pneumonia, respiratory failure, liver injury, clots, lung scarring etc.
Others have also questioned this: not only the process of testing but also the safety and efficacy of the ingredients of Coronil. There are serious implications of taking a medication that is not what it claims to be: people may ignore more targeted remedies and endanger their health. Thinking that there is a ‘100% cure’ people can become lax about preventive modalities and physical distancing. In some cases, there could be problems caused by drug interactions which could further endanger the health of a sick person.
This is not about swadesi v foreign or about allopathy v Ayurveda. (Let us not lose sight of the fact that India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally.) This is about having the proper checks and balances in place to safeguard public health.
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