The Indian Medical Association has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over yoga guru Ramdev’s remarks about doctors and modern medicine in India, asking the Prime Minister to stop his ‘misinformation campaign.’ In the letter to the Prime Minister, the IMA has also asked that a case of sedition be imposed against him for his remarks. The IMA has taken objection to Ramdev’s statements claiming “allopathy is a stupid science,” and that “COVID-19 drugs in India are leading to deaths..
“It is gratifying to note that only 0.06 % of people who received both the vaccines got minimal infection by the coronavirus, and very rarely vaccinated people had a severe lung infection. It is well proved that by vaccination, we save our people and country from catastrophic cascades of severe infection,” the IMA said in its letter. “At this juncture, painfully we bring to your kind notice, the video claiming 10,000 doctors have died in spite of taking both the dose of vaccine and lakhs of people have died due to allopathic medicine are circulating virally in the social media, as said by Mr Ramdev, owner of Patanjali products,” it said. In their letter, the IMA has asked the government to take “appropriate action against individuals viciously propagating the message of fear on vaccination.”
“We appeal to your highness, to take appropriate action against individuals viciously propagating the message of fear on vaccination and challenge the Government of India protocols for treatment for their vested interest in their company products. This, in our opinion, is a clear-cut case of sedition and such persons should be booked immediately without any delay under the charges of sedition. IMA is committed to serving with the government in this COVID-19 war,” the IMA said in its letter.
Addressing the plight of healthcare professionals in the country during the pandemic, the IMA said that 1,266 doctors lost their lives to the virus in the first and second waves of the pandemic. “Now, deceitfully attributing 10,000 people to have died in spite of two doses of vaccination, is a deliberate move to stall the efforts of vaccination to reach our masses and it needs to be curtailed immediately,” the letter stated.
Saying that IMA only follows guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare through ICMR or the National Task Force, the IMA said, “Someone is claiming that the allopathic medicine has killed the people; it is an attempt to challenge the Ministry who has issued the protocol for treatment to us.”
The IMA said that it respects, acknowledges and compliments all systems of medicine, especially Ayurvedic medicine, and that it is not against any medicine promoted by the Ministry but it is opposed to medicines being promoted without regulatory approvals. “(We are) happy to share in most of our public health treatment centers the drugs promoted by the AYUSH ministry. We opposed certain drugs promoted without the approval of the Ministry as a curative drug,” the IMA said.
“We are pained to witness the great services rendered by nearly 10 lakhs of Modern medical doctors in the forefront to work with dedication to keep the mortality of our corona patients around 1 percent with the limited manpower and resources, which many developed countries couldn't achieve are ridiculed and called as a stupid system,” the IMA said.