The Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) has filed complaints to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against a Kochi-based doctor accusing him of defaming AYUSH.
The letter by Sadath Dinakar, general secretary, AMAI, claimed that Cyriac Abby Philips, hepatologist with a private hospital in Kochi, had tried to defame Ayurveda in a video uploaded on a YouTube channel on June 21.
Dr. Dinakar alleged that Dr. Philips had called AYUSH Department ‘unscientific’. Dr. Philips also mentioned that immunity boosters given for COVID-19 by the AYUSH Ministry could damage the liver cells or were hepatotoxic. “The video said that 34 of the 1,440 patients who had consulted Dr. Philip are having liver-related diseases due to the consumption of Ayurvedic drugs. He even defamed companies with Good Manufacturing Practices certificate in the Ayurveda field by claiming that they promote quackery,” the letter said.
Based on assumptions
Dr. Dinakar alleged that Dr. Philips had not followed the guidelines prescribed by the Department of AYUSH to study Ayurvedic drugs. His arguments were based on his assumptions and not on scientific studies. The AMAI functionary demanded that Dr. Philips’ registration be cancelled and action initiated against the YouTube channel.
Dr. Philips, however, told The Hindu on Sunday that the complaint did not seem to have any legal ground. “I am yet to get any notice. I had not mentioned the name of the AYUSH Department in the video at all. I just pointed out that all the herbal medicines are not safe, a fact proved by various scientific studies,” he said.
