India: Indian doctors challenge Ramdev’s claims about “yoga-beats-COVID” | Coronavirus News Plague

topglobe June 2, 2021

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Thousands of doctors in India are wearing black belts and demanding the arrest of a senior official who says yoga can prevent COVID-19 and that antiretroviral drugs have killed thousands of coronaviruses.

Baba Ramdev, creator of a successful medical empire, he said last month the plague made modern medicine “stupid and unscientific” and said that hundreds of thousands had “died because they had allopathy”.

On Tuesday of the “Black Day” show, video footage shows doctors with placards demanding the arrest of “Quack Ramdev” while others wore PPE suits with #ArrestRamdev on the back.

Doctors at AIIMS have signs when they see a ‘Black Day’ protest against Ramdev’s actions [Rajat Gupta/EPA]

The doctors’ union at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), one of the largest hospitals in the state of Delhi, said Ramdev’s remarks were “disgraceful”.

Doctors have also changed their images on social media, Elizabeth Puranam of Al Jazeera, according to reports from New Delhi.

“In a country like India where people tend to follow spirit mediums, yoga practitioners and ignorant, people like that, spreading unbelief, lies, it is difficult for us as scientists, as doctors to dispel lies abroad,” said Dr Mehak Bhushan of the The Resident Doctors Association sold Al Jazeera.

Ramdev, a close aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, backed off comments following a request from Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and the teacher said he was only reading WhatsApp messages from other people.

But he also lamented the lack of a coronavirus vaccine because it was protected by yoga and traditional medicine, or Ayurveda.

Ramdev Company Patanjali Ayurved is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, selling everything from toothpaste to jeans in its ubiquitous stores.

Earlier this year, it launched an herbal drug Coronil which Ramdev, who also owns a TV, said could cure coronavirus.

The ceremony was attended by Vardhan, who is also a physician and chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) executive committee.

Doctors say Ramdev “is using the epidemic and many of its people to follow it to force people to buy illegal drugs,” Puranam said.

Ramdev had claimed that Coronil had been approved by the WHO, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has denied the allegations.

A senior journalist who cut off his car tires during a Ramdev commercial investigation says the yoga leader is protected by Modi’s right wing government.

“His interest in business, that’s what drives him to play fake games… he wrote so far… So in a way, he’s politically motivated and that’s why he didn’t get punished for what he did,” Nitin Sethi told Al Jazeera.

Patanjali – who is ranked 13th in India’s official list published last year – has previously claimed to have cancer treatment, while Ramdev has said he can “cure” homosexuality and AIDS.

Ramdev’s spokesman did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for questioning.

But the master of yoga counts millions of Indians as followers, including Anil Sabharwal who sells most of his goods.

“I am not selling Patanjali’s goods just for the sake of business. This is a matter of faith. Guru Ramdev shows us the way, “shopkeeper Anil Sabharwal told Al Jazeera.

“I was sick, but by the time I first heard his sermons, the way to recovery had already begun.”

Many people in India are a firm believer in traditional medicine and alternative therapies. But doctors say what Ramdev cannot say, and he should be judged on the basis of what he said, especially during the epidemic.

Coronavirus has left at least 330,000 people in India, including more than 1,200 doctors, according to the Indian Medical Association.

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