Health Minister Harsh Vardhan requests Ramdev to withdraw statement on allopathic medicines

New Delhi: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday (May 23) called yoga guru Ramdev's statement on allopathic medicines ‘extremely unfortunate’ and asked him to withdraw it.

Citing a video circulating on social media, the Indian Medical Association on Saturday had said Ramdev has claimed that allopathy is a 'stupid science' and medicines such as remdesivir, faviflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat COVID-19 patients.

The doctors' body also quoted Ramdev as saying that 'lakhs of patients have died after taking allopathic medicines'. These remarks were denied as 'false' by the Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust.

In a letter to Ramdev, Vardhan asked him to withdraw his statement on allopathy.

"The statement disrespects the COVID warriors and hurt the sentiments of the country. Your statement on allopathy can break the morale of healthcare workers and weaken our fight against COVID-19," he said.

Vardhan said that allopathic medicines have saved lives of crores and said that the fact it is responsible for death of lakhs is 'extremely unfortunate'.

"Baba Ramdev, you are a public figure and your statement holds value. I think that you should give statements on any issue keeping in view the time and circumstances. I hope you will think about it seriously and in view of the sentiments of corona warriors from across the world you will withdraw your statement," he said.

Vardhan said the explanation given by Ramdev is not enough to pacify the sentiments of the people.

"In your explanation, you just said that your sentiment was not to hurt modern science and doctors. I don't think your explanation was enough," he said.

Asserting that Ramdev has "utmost regards" for doctors and support staff who have been working day and night during such a challenging time of the pandemic, the statement signed by Trust General Secretary Acharya Balakrishna said, "Swami jee has no ill-will against the modern science and good practitioners of modern medicine. What is being attributed against him is false and nugatory."