The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Saturday slammed Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev for his alleged remarks on allopathy, and asked the Central Government to take action against him under the Epidemics Act for such “unlearned statements” against modern medicine amid a devastating Covid-19 pandemic.

The IMA cited a viral video of Ramdev where he can be heard saying "Allopathy ek aisi stupid and diwaliya science hai. Lakho logo ki maut allopathy ki dawai khanse se hui hai’", and said that such statements challenge the wisdom and integrity of the Drug Controller General of India and the Union Health Ministry.

It also said that Baba Ramdev deserves to be prosecuted for putting the lives of people at risk by asking them not to take the advice of allopathy doctors. In a press release, it demanded that Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan either accept the accusation and dissolve modern medical facility or book and prosecute Yog Guru under the Epidemic Diseases.

“Enough is enough,” said the doctors’ body, noting that more than 1,200 modern medicine allopathic doctors have sacrificed their life so far, as they are in the front line of the COVID war.

Laying another accusation on the Yoga Guru, the IMA said that he was trying to take advantage of the pandemic to create a sense of fear and frustration among people, so that he could "sell his illegal and unapproved so-called medicines at the cost of the public.

Patanjali issues Clarification:

Hours after the IMA's accusations, Patanjali Yogipeeth and its MD Archarya Balkrishna issued a statement saying that the 'truncated' video being cited was totally out of context, and that in the video Ramdev was acually reading out a Whatsapp forwarded message recieved by him and others at a provate event.

Further, Patanjali's statement said that yoga guru Baba Ramdev had no ill-will against modern science & practitioners of modern medicine and maintained that what was being attributed to the former was false and nugatory. The statement said that Baba Ramdev believed allopathy as a 'progressive science' and that the combination of allopathy, Ayurveda and yoga would be beneficial for all amid the battle against COVID.

Patanjali's statement noted that Baba Ramdev had the utmost respect for doctors & support staff and urged to keep unity among all medical staff to overcome the pandemic.

Ever since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Baba Ramdev has been embroiled in various controversies regarding his medicines. In February this year, Ramdev launched what he claimed to be the “first evidence-based medicine for COVID-19 by Patanjali”. The event saw the presence of Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, however was later slammed by the IMA. The WHO also said that it had not approved any such medicine amid claims that it was WHO approved.

Last year in June, Patanjali had launched 'Coronil and Swasari', an Ayurvedic cure for treating COVID-19. They claimed the medicine showed 100% favourable results during clinical trials on affected patients. This was slammed on similar grounds by the IMA citing a lack of scientific evidence.