B. Anandaiah, whose “herbal preparation” is touted as a cure for COVID-19 and which drew a large number of people to Krishnapatnam, on Sunday offered to produce the concoction on a mass scale under government supervision on getting approval from the Centre.
The government had halted the distribution of the “herbal preparation” for want of scientific evidence to prove its efficacy.
Addressing the media along with YSRCP Nellore district president and Sarvepalli MLA Kakani Govardhan Reddy, he thanked Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for commissioning a scientific study of his preparation by the ICMR and the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS).
“I need the support of the government in mobilising the ingredients on a large scale if it decides to go for mass production of the preparation,” Mr. Anandaiah said a day after the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams offered to extend its assistance for mass production if the preparation got the approval of the Centre.
Faculty members from the Sri Srinivasa Ayurveda Pharmacy, Tirupati, on the direction of the CCRAS, had started retrospective study by compiling data from those who had taken the preparation.
‘No side effects’
Denying that he had been arrested by the police as reported in a section of the media, Mr. Anandaiah said that he and his followers had not been put to trouble by the police, who had only stepped up security to him. “My movements have not been restricted in any manner,” he added.
A preliminary study conducted by AYUSH doctors had found that there were no side effects on those who had consumed the herbal concoction, Mr. Govardhan Reddy said, and underscored the need for decentralised distribution of the preparation for those seeking it to avoid crowding of people at Krishnapatnam.
