NEW DELHI: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Saturday hit out at yoga guru Ramdev for allegedly misleading people by making “unlearned” statements against allopathy and demanded Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to prosecute him under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 or accept his claims and dissolve the modern medical facilities in the country.
“Enough is enough,” IMA said lashing out at Ramdev for “repeatedly taking advantage of the situation and creating fear among the public to sell his illegal drugs”. Ramdev should be prosecuted under the Epidemic Diseases Act as his “untutored” statements are “a threat to the literate society of the country as well as to the poor people falling prey to him”, the apex body of doctors said. It cited a video circulating on social media where Ramdev is seen saying that “allopathy ek aisi stupid aur diwalilya science hai. (allopathy is such a stupid science)”. IMA also recalled that Ramdev had called practitioners of modern medicine “murderers” in the presence of the Union health minister while releasing his medicines.
IMA quoted Ramdev as saying “lakhs of people have died after taking allopathic medicines”. The doctors’ body also said Ramdev claimed that Remdesivir, Faviflu, and all other drugs, which were approved by the Drugs Controller General of India, have failed in the treatment of Covid-19 patients. “The Union health minister who himself is a practicing modern medicine allopathic postgraduate and head of this (health) ministry, should either accept the accusation of this gentleman and dissolve the modern medical facility or boldly face and prosecute the person for his words of arson and book him under the Epidemic Act to save millions of people from such unscientific utterances,” the IMA said.
It accused Ramdev of making false claims “so that he can sell his illegal and unapproved so-called medicines and make money at the cost of the public at large”. “The IMA resolves if the minister (Harsh Vardhan) is not taking suo moto action, we will be forced to resort to democratic means of struggle to propagate the truth to the common people and knock the doors of the judiciary to get the due justice,” it said.
The association also mentioned earlier controversies around Ramdev’s Coronil and Swasari medicines and the criminal complaint against him by social worker Tamanna Hashmi for “putting the lives of people in danger”.