BJP MLA defends Patanjali after Maharashtra Minister calls its Covid medicine ‘spurious’

Anil Deshmukh

A BJP MLA in Maharashtra on Thursday took on the state’s home minister Anil Deshmukh for red flagging Patanjali Ayurved’s medicine that claims to cure Covid-19 and saying that “Maharashtra won’t allow sale of spurious medicines”.
Following the controversy over Patanjali Ayurved’s claim that its medicine Coronil is a cure for Covid-19, Deshmukh tweeted that the National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Jaipur will find out whether clinical trials of ‘Coronil’ were done at all. Patanjali is promoted by yoga guru Ramdev.
“The National Institute of Medical Sciences, Jaipur will find out whether clinical trials of @PypAyurved’s ‘Coronil’ were done at all. An abundant warning to @yogrishiramdev that Maharashtra won’t allow sale of spurious medicines.
#MaharashtraGovtCares
#NoPlayingWithLives,” the minister tweeted.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state by Covdi-19 with a tally of over 1.4 lakh including more than 6,700 deaths so far.
Hours later, Ram Kadam replied to Deshmukh’s tweet, attaching a document that he claimed was approval of NIMS of the clinical trials of Coronil.
“Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s tweet on Patanjali’s Coronil medicine on Coronavirus calling it as spurious. He also said that clinical trial approval from NIMS will be awaited. I would like to inform the Respected Home Minister that clinical approval is there” Kadam said in his tweet.
In Jaipur, Rajasthan health minister Raghu Sharma said that Ramdev did not take permission from the state government for the clinical trials that Patanjali conducted.
Sharma said that the state government had not received any proposal for clinical trials for the drug, nor had they given any permission to anyone in this regard.
He also warned of strict action if anyone was found selling Patanjali’s medicines that claim to cure Covid-19.

NIMS director Dr Anurag Tomar said that all the necessary approvals for the clinical trials had been taken and permission from Clinical Trials Registry- India (CTRI) was taken before the trials were conducted.
On Tuesday, the Union ministry of AYUSH asked Patanjali to provide details about the medicine and to stop advertising the products. It also asked the Uttarakhand government to provide details of the license given to Patanjali to manufacture the medicine.