Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has questioned the rationale behind the Union Ministry for AYUSH distributing corona preventive medicine when the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also admitted that there was no preventive medicine as of now.
Raising the issue during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Mr. Reddy pointed out that the AYUSH Ministry has issued an advisory prescribing some medicines for treatment of coronavirus and this was in contradiction to the advisory given by the Union Ministry for Health.
Mr. Reddy said based on the advisory note given by AYUSH Ministry, the government of Telangana has set up stalls distributing those medicines, including at the airport. He said 10 to 15 crore people believe in AYUSH and when there is no scientific evidence and no clinical trials, how has the Ministry specifically recommended some medicines.
Speaking about ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation’ in the media, Mr. Reddy said a number of persons, particularly of the ruling party, have been giving statements that cow urine and cow dung is useful in treating coronavirus. Some Yoga gurus were also prescribing some herbs. Unforunately this ‘misinformation’ has not been contradicted by anybody in the government.
The TPCC chief also highlighted the absence of a mechanism in the country for testing coronavirus. “As a citizen, if I want to go and test myself for coronavirus, there is no system in the country or procedure now,” he said. Further, he also pointed out that the quarantine facilities where people coming from abroad were being kept were unhygienic.
Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik, in his reply clarified that the medicines were prescribed based on previous experiences and they could only boost respiratory system and increase immunity. “We did not call them medicines for coronavirus,” he clarified. Further, he said there was nothing to fear as the coronavirus was being controlled.
