Rajasthan govt asks Centre to initiate legal action against Baba Ramdev, calls Coronil trials 'illegal'

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma has also demanded legal action from the centre against Ramdev for misleading peopl at a challenging time like this.
Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev (File | EPS)
Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev (File | EPS)

JAIPUR: Baba Ramdev's controversial medicine 'coronil' for coronavirus patients has run into serious trouble in Rajasthan as the state health department has called the trials 'illegal' and served a notice to Jaipur's NIMS Hospital which reportedly collaborated in this.

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma has also demanded legal action from the centre against Ramdev for misleading peopl at a challenging time like this and declared that anyone selling or distributing these pills will be put behind bars.

"It has come to our notice through newspapers and TV channels that you have conducted clinical trials on patients without the permission of the Government department. As NIMS Hospital is a dedicated covid-19 institute so according to the protocol the treatment  of corona patients should have been done according to the prescribed government protocol only, there is a violation of the protocol and you should submit a clarification to the department within three days," read a government notice.

In an exclusive chat with The New Indian Express, Jaipur CMHO Dr. Narrottam Sharma asserted that no official permission was sought or obtained for the so-called trials by Patanjali Ayurved or NIMS.

“We have issued them a notice to explain how they could conduct clinical trials without any official permission. They sought no permission nor is there any proof of having administered those medicines. When we are the ones who test all patients and all treatment to corona patients is given according to the protocol we set, they cannot run clinical trials on any patient without our permission.

"For any clinical trials to be conducted, the permission has to be given by an Ethical Committee of five members. When no such committee was even constituted, how can they conduct any clinical trials and how can it be regarded as scientific or legal,” Sharma remarked.  

Ramdev on the other hand, had claimed that a clinical case study of Coronil was conducted on over 100 patients admitted at NIMS located in Chandwaji, 69 per cent of whom, tested negative within three days of consuming the pills and later, all of them were cured within seven days.

The AYUSH ministry has demanded Patanjali Ayurved to share details on the ingredients used, location of the trial, protocol observed, sample size of the testing group and also the requisite permissions sought.

Meanwhile, NIMS Jaipur has found itself at the centre of a couple of other controversies as well such as sexual exploitation allegations of students against Dr BS Tomar, founder of the group. 

In December 2018, a woman working at NIMS College had also filed an FIR alleging rape by Dr. Tomar. 

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