Since late April, the Kerala government has been distributing homoeopathy medicine called ‘Arsenicum Album 30C’ to people as 'immunity boosters’. The homoeopathic medicine was distributed to over 45 lakh people across Kerala in April, as preventive medicine. Recently, Health Minister KK Shailaja endorsed a study by the Pathanamthitta District Medical Officer (Homeopathy), claiming that only a few who took homoeopathy medicine contracted COVID-19 and that they recovered soon.
This has shocked the medical community in the state. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has criticised Minister Shailaja for pushing homoeopathy to prevent COVID-19, without scientific reasoning or evidence.
“Medicines to prevent COVID-19 have been distributed across Kerala. Some studies were also carried out in some regions. Only a few people who took preventive medicine got the disease. However, their results turn negative for coronavirus in three to four days,” KK Shailaja recently said at a virtual inauguration of the Ayurveda Hospital in Kannur and the Hemoglobinopathy treatment scheme.
A person who has been infected with COVID-19 is tested three days after symptoms appear, followed by a second test before being discharged after 14 days.
The Homeopathy Department of the Kerala government has been aggressively campaigning for the use of homoeopathy medicine as an immunity booster against COVID-19. The Department has been distributing the tablet through government homoeopathy hospitals, panchayats and municipalities.
About 90% of the people in Pathanamthitta district were reportedly given the immunity booster. These were distributed in containment zones as well.
The study by five authors, headed by Dr Bijukumar, Pathanamthitta DMO (Homoeopathy), is titled ‘Efficacy of Arsenicum Album 30C for upregulating immunological markers among residents of COVID-19 related hot spot areas in Pathanamthitta, Kerala’.
The study argued that the pandemic causes subjective distress (due to stressful events) among people in hot spot areas, which, in turn, decreases the immunity level (marked by a decrease in immunity markers) and makes the individual susceptible to infections. It also stated that interventions to maintain immune status will be beneficial to prevent further spreading of the disease.
The study was conducted in Pathanamthitta from March to May. Samples were collected from 1,151 individuals, of which, 61 were identified to have subjective distress. It postulated that Arsenicum Album 30C is effective for increasing the immunological markers or upregulating absolute CD4, CD3, CD8 and lymphocyte count (white blood cells) among people residing in COVID-19 related hot-spot areas.
It must be noted that this study was not peer-reviewed and the experimental phase was conducted using only one group.
The medical community said that the Health Minister’s statement favouring homoeopathy as preventive medicine can send a wrong message to the public.
“The Health Minister made the statement based on the study by the DMO, which is not a proper study,” said Dr Abraham Varghese, President, Indian Medical Association (IMA) Kerala.
He explained why the Minister's endorsement is problematic and why the IMA is opposing it.
“The pandemic is reaching a critical point, where the number of COVID-19 cases is alarmingly high. It has reached a point where the state reported over 3,000 cases in one day (on Sunday). So, it is dangerous to make such a statement at this juncture, as the public will take it for granted that there is no need for wearing the face mask or (follow) physical distancing. As it is, people are taking COVID-19 lightly, especially after the Onam season when many restrictions have been relaxed,” he said.
Dr Abraham further pointed out that they are not against any person in the medical community or medicine, but “relying on homoeopathic medicines without a proper, recognised study is an insult to the frontline workers.”
Earlier, the Supreme Court and Kerala High Court ruled against using homoeopathy as a treatment for COVID-19. The Kerala government had informed the court that only modern medicines will be allowed to treat the disease.