Daijiworld Media Network
New Delhi, May 23: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is in the eye of storm for his comments laying the blame on modern allopathic medicines for causing more deaths than due to coronavirus itself in the country. On Sunday May 23, union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan too came down heavily on Ramdev and told him to withdraw his statement.
A video that went viral on social media showed Ramdev saying at a recent event, "Lacs of people have died because of allopathic medicines, far more than those who died because they did not get treatment or oxygen." He also purportedly termed allopathy a 'stupid and bankrupt' science.
In a letter to the founder and head of Patanjali, the union health minister said that it was enough for Ramdev to just apologise for his statement, and he should desist from insulting Covid warriors who have been working hard to save lives.
"The people of the country are very hurt with your remark on allopathic medicines. I have already told about this feeling over phone. Doctors and health workers are like gods for the people of the country for whom they are fighting against the coronavirus risking their lives," Dr Vardhan said in a two-page letter written in Hindi.
"The statement disrespects the corona 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. Your clarification yesterday is not enough to make up for it... I hope you will think hard on it and withdraw your statements completely," he added.
Dr Harsh Vardhan's letter comes a day after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) strongly condemned Ramdev and demanded a written apology from him. "...it is a well-known fact that the said yoga guruji and his associate Balkrishna Ji have been taking modern medical allopathy treatment as and when they get into illness. Now to mislead the public at large, he is making all false and baseless acquisitions so that he can sell his illegal and unapproved drugs," IMA said.
"Ramdev deserves to be prosecuted for disobeying and causing danger to the lives of many by making them believe not to take the advice of allopathy drugs. His quote about Favipiravir as medicine against fever/antipyretic is laughable and childish, and demonstrates his in-depth scientific knowledge," IMA added.