In wake of yoga guru Ramdev announcing a Covid-19 medicine, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Wednesday warned that stringent action shall be taken against those propagating and endorsing any kind of medicine for coronavirus without following due norms.
The claim of Baba Ramdev that ayurvedic medicines are useful as immunity boosters can be accepted but his claim to have found a medicine for Covid-19 cure cannot be accepted without due permission given by the Ayush Ministry, Sharma said.
If the medicine is being seen sold anywhere in the state, legal action shall be taken against Ramdev, he said.
Sharma also demanded action against him for making claims without following due guidelines as declared by the ICMR and the WHO.
Ramdev or his organisation neither applied to the state government for permission for any kind of drug trial, nor has the state government given any permission in this regard, he said.
The hospital where Ramdev is claiming to conduct a clinical trial of medicine was a quarantine centre, the Minister said, adding that many patients recovered in three days here, and hence it is wrong to talk of inventing a medicine which cures patients in seven days.
“Human trials cannot be conducted without the permission of the state government. Action will be taken against those conducting clinical trials without permission while misleading the public,” he added.
As per the Gazette notification issued on April 21 this year, any organisation conducting research in the context of Covid-19 should be approved by the Scientific Advisory Bodies and Institutional Ethics Committee. The clinical trial project should be registered and approved by CTRI and the sample size should also be large. Further the clinical trial should follow the guidelines of the AYUSH Ministry or the ICMR and should be in compliance with the rules of Bio Medical and Health Research, the minister said.