After withdrawing his remarks on Allopathy, Ramdev poses 25 questions to IMA

A day after withdrawing his comments on Allopathy that had triggered a storm of sorts with IMA threatening to go to court and a wing of it lodging police complaint against him, Yoga Guru Ramdev on Monday issued an open letter to IMA, posing 25 questions asking the modern medicine whether it has treatment for a number of diseases.

On Sunday after he withdrew his controversial comments on Allopathic medicine, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan thanked Yoga Guru Ramdev for bringing an end to the entire issue. He said that the manner in which the Yoga Guru ended the row by withdrawing his statement on Allopathic treatment is a sign of his maturity and should be welcomed.

Earlier, the Health Minister had written a letter to Ramdev asking him to "withdraw his objectionable statement" saying it had hurt the sentiments of the entire nation and insulted the corona warriors."

While the Yoga Guru asked the IMA if allopathy offered permanent relief for ailments such as hypertension and diabetes thyroid, arthritis, colitis and asthma, he also asked whether it can provide medicines for fatty liver and liver cirrhosis.

"After All, allopathy is now 200 years old," the Yoga Guru said, daring it to find treatments for liver ailments and asking questions like "What treatment is there for cholesterol. Does the pharma industry have treatment for migraine?," he asked

Ramdev's supporters on Twitter expressed solidarity behind him and also attacked the Health Minister. Many of these tweets were also retweeted by the Yoga Guru, indicating that the matter is yet not over.

Haryna Health Minister Anil Vij said on Twitter "one lakh Coronil kits of Patanjali will be distributed free among corona patients. Half of the cost of Coronil has been borne by Patanjali and half by Covid Relief Fund of Haryana government." Retweeting this, Yoga Guru said the central government and other state governments should also come forward like the Haryana government for freedom from corona.

Last June, Patanjali had clarified that they never said that Coronil kit was a cure for Covid-19, soon after its launch as treatment for coronavirus patients kicked up a row. In February this year the medicine was, however, launched in presence of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Coronil had by then received the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) from the Ministry of Ayush, which had said that Coronil can be sold only as an immunity-booster and not as a cure.

Harsh Vardhan's strongly-worded letter to Ramdev had said that his statement on allopathy can break the morale of healthcare workers and weaken the country's fight against Covid-19. The Health Minsiter was referring to the Yoga Guru's viral video on social media in which he was heard saying "Allopathy ek aisi stupid aur diwalia science hai (Allopathy is such a stupid ineffective science)".

Going hammer and tongs against it, IMA had asked the Health Minister, himself an Allopathic doctor to "either accept accusation and dissolve modern medical facilities or prosecute him under the Epidemic Diseases Act" and accused Ramdev of doing this with the"selfish malevolent to boost up their unscrupulous, unprincipled, deceitful and unpatriotic business fortunes."

Patanjali Yogpeeth had later come out with a clarification saying the video clip was taken out of context and Ramdev has "utmost regards" for Allopathic doctors and has no ill-will against the modern science and good practitioners of modern medicine.