India / Not against allopathy: Ramdev withdraws statement & regrets controversy

New Delhi: Nudged by Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Yoga guru Ramdev on Sunday withdraw his statement on allopathy which he claimed was a Whatsapp message that he was reading at a meeting and not his personal opinion about allopathy. "I am not against allopathy. Rather I admit that allopathy has been serving humanity through the continuous progress it made," Ramdev wrote expressing regret that his reading out the WhatsApp message which denigrated modern medical science may have hurt people's sentiments.

The move comes after Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan wrote a letter to Ramdev urging him to withdraw the statements as those have hurt the doctors' fraternity who are fighting day in and day out. Doctors are "akin to deities for the people of the nation," Dr Vardhan said.

A video of Ramdev went viral in which Ramdev was seen calling allopathic medicine 'tamasha'. 'waste' etc.

"At this time calling presently practised treatment as 'Tamasha' you have not only questioned the allopathy but also the ability and motive of the doctors practising it, which is inappropriate," the health minister wrote.

Though Ramdev expressed regret, he said criticism of any branch of medicine should not be seen as an attack and it is in no way opposing science. "Everyone should progress through self-evaluation. Some allopathic doctors too consider Indian medical science, Ayurveda, yoga as pseudo-science, which hurts crores of people.

"If modern medical science has come up with the treatment of polio, chickenpox, then Yoga, Ayurveda and naturopathy too have worked towards finding a permanent way out for blood pressure, sugar, thyroid, arthritis, fatty liver, hepatitis, asthma and several genetic diseases," Ramdev said.

"I respect allopathy doctors who have saved crores of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. We too have saved many lives through Yoga and Ayurveda; that too should be respected," the Yoga guru said.

The Indian Medical Association on Saturday sent a legal notice to Ramdev over this statement and sought prosecution of Ramdev under the Epidemic Act.