Press Council advises print media against publicity, advertisement of AYUSH’S claims on COVID-19

NEW DELHI: The Press Council of India (PCI) has now issued an advisory asking the print media to stop the publicity and advertisement of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha & Homoeopathy) related claims for COVID-19 treatment, following a similar order from the Ministry of AYUSH, which sought related measures to stop the spread of “misleading information” about Ayush-related claims.

The PCI issued the advisory on Friday, urging media houses to stop publicity and advertisement of Ayush-related claims for COVID-19 treatment in a bid to prevent dissemination of misleading information about AYUSH drugs and services in light of the emerging nationwide threat because of the viral outbreak.

Interestingly, as the epidemic started spreading across the globe and in India, the Ministry had issued a set of “solutions” to “prevent” COVID-19 infection and later changed the terminology to “managing symptoms” of the disease. Moreover, the AYUSH Ministry had also reportedly recommended the use of Arecenicium Album-30 as a “preventive” for the Coronavirus disease, following which the sales of this compound had spiked in Indian homeopathy shops.

At the time, the AYUSH minister (Independent Charge) Shripad Yesso Naik had said a slew of measures were recommended that were just “preventive”, whereas doctors and medical experts have maintained that there is no cure for the disease yet and while homeopathy may be used to boost one’s immunity, it is not a treatment for Coronavirus.

Further, the AYUSH minister had also recently claimed that Prince Charles was cured of COVID-19 by using Ayurveda and Homeopathy treatment prescribed by a Bengaluru expert. This notion was, however, dispelled as soon as a spokesperson clarified that he had followed medical advice of the National Health Services in the UK alone.