IMA criticizes Patanjali's claims, says "Why is Government spending Rs 35,000 cr on Vaccination Drive if Coronil can cure Covid-19"

After the WHO issued a clarification on Patanjali's Coronil saying that it has “not reviewed or certified any traditional medicine against Covid-19”, now the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has given a statement on it criticizing Patanjali for its “blatant lies”.

The IMA questioned that if "Patanjali’s claim of Coronil being 100% effective in curing Covid-19 is indeed true, why is the Government spending Rs 35,000 crores on the vaccination drive?". It has also sought for the timeline of clinical trials of Coronil, which Patanjali claims confirm the effectiveness of the medicine.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who was present at the launch event of Coronil has also been on the receiving end of criticism. The IMA has demanded an explanation from him, saying, “How can the Health Minister promote a falsely fabricated unscientific drug before the country?”.

This is the second time that Baba Ramdev’s Coronil has fallen into controversy after it was released last year as a cure against Covid-19, but later labeled as an immunity-booster by the Ministry of Ayush.

Now, Coronil has been issued the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products (CoPP) by the Ministry of Ayush, which enables the medicine to be exported to 158 countries.

After confusion over the certification being issued by the WHO, Patanjali’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna issued a statement, saying, "We want to clarify to avoid confusion that our WHO GMP compliant CoPP certificate to Coronil is issued by DCGI, Government of India. It is clear that WHO does not approve or disapprove any drugs.”