India / Coronil not medicine: IMA on proposal to include tablet in U'khand's COVID-19 kit

New Delhi: The Uttarakhand unit of the Indian Medical Association has opposed the inclusion of Patanjali Ayurved's Coronil in the Covid-19 kit of the Uttarakhand government. The doctors' body said Coronil is not approved by the World Health Organization; it does not either have any approval from the Drug Controller General of India of Ayush as a medicine. "Coronil is however recognised as a food supplement by Ayush Vibhag of central government and is not a drug or medicine as claimed by Baba Ramdev on National TV on hourly basis advertisements" Dr Ajay Khanna, state secretary of IMA Uttarkhand wrote to the chief secretary of the state.

This "retaliation" comes at a time the association is at loggerheads with Ramdev over the yoga guru's disparaging comments on modern medicine. The controversy has been going on and the IMA filed complaints against Ramdev and sent a legal notice to Patanjali Ayurved.

Amid this ongoing tussle, it has been reported that Patanjali has proposed to add Coronil as part of Covid-19 kit in Uttarakhand. This is medically wrong, the IMA said as this will result in a mixing of allopathy and Ayurved, the IMA said.

"Addition of Coronil with allopathic drugs shall amount to mixopathy that is a cocktail of Allopath and Ayurved which is not permitted as per the rulings of the honourable Supreme Court. Apart from the Apex Court, several high courts of various states have also ruled that mixopathy is not allowed," the IMA said.

Since its launch, Coronil has been mired in controversies as the Uttarkhand government last year said that Patanjali was given a licence to manufacture an immunity booster, not anything related to the treatment of the Coronavirus.

Priced at ₹545, the kit consists of three things — Coronil tablet, Swasari vati and Anu Taila. The Haryana government has recently anounced that one lakh Coronil kits will be distributed among Coronavirus patients in Haryana free of cost.