A SYMPTOM OF HUMANITY

There are scams everywhere. Sale of fake masks, sanitisers, PPES and yes, cures. Such dealings are usually kept out of the public eye, just around the corner but nowhere obvious. There are times when companies step forth and attempt to blatantly profit off fears and false claims.

Such is the case with Patanjali Ayurved Ltd’s claims of discovering a working COVID-19 drug which the company claims to have tested on 278 patients under the supervision of the National Institute of Medical Science. The Ayush Ministry has so far been cautious in rebuking the company for such problematic claims, presumably because the Ministry has a prior record of advertising certain products as helping protect against COVID-19 itself. The medicines, ‘Coronil and Swasari’, come in a Corona kit priced at Rs 545. For now, the Government has ordered the company to stop advertising the drugs until a proper examination of the ingredients, manufacturing methods and efficacy of the drugs in question is studied in detail.

It is unknown as to what kind of tests were carried and under what condition. While ayurvedic medicine has always been at the fringes of conventional medicine and thus been given a benefit of doubt, this time, the stakes are higher. Such medicines can create and propagate a false sense of complacency around the very real and still growing threat of the pandemic. For the company to try and profit off such a dangerous gamble is shameful indeed but hardly unique to India. In recent times, Madagascar claimed to have come up with a herbal tea mixture drink made from Artemesia called Covid-organics which the President of the Nation claimed could prevent and cure the disease. Extracts of Artemesia are usually used in the treatment of Malaria. While Madagascar failed to find a worldwide consumer base for its supposed cure, it has become quite popular amongst several African nations. Such efforts can only impede our fight against the virus.

..... BS CHANDRA, MAHARASHTRA via email