New Delhi: Ayush doctors
and homeopaths cannot prescribe or advertise medicines for the deadly
coronavirus, which has so far affected over 99 lakh people in India, the
Supreme Court said today. Refusing to modify a Kerala High Court order, which
had earlier passed a judgement prohibiting such prescriptions, the top court -
at the same time - also upheld an advisory by the centre on Ayush doctors
prescribing immunity boosters for Covid.
The Health Ministry had told the
doctors that the Ayush and homeopaths can prescribe government-approved tablets
and mixtures only as immunity booster and preventive measure for COVID-19, and
not as treatment.
The top court - responding to a
petition against August 21 judgement by the Kerala High Court - declined to
modify the order. A three-judge Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Subhash Reddy
and MR Shah was listening to an appeal by Dr AKB Sadbhavana Mission School of
Homeo Pharmacy.
India has logged over 99 lakh
cases so far, the second highest number of cases in the world after the United
States, and over 1.43 deaths linked to the virus. Worldwide, over 7.2 crore
people have contracted the highly infectious virus, and more than 16 lakh have
died since the beginning of the pandemic.
The use of Ayurveda for Covid had
earlier sparked controversy in October when Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
had released a protocol for the clinical management of COVID-19. The protocol
listed dietary measures, yoga and Ayurvedic herbs and formulations such as
Ashwagandha and AYUSH-64 for prevention of coronavirus infection and treatment
of mild and asymptomatic cases.
However, the Indian Medical
Association had questioned the scientific basis of the protocols in a
sharply-worded letter.
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