Notice to Raj hospital over trials of Patanjali drug on COVID-19 patients

Jaipur: Rajasthan’s Health Department has served a notice to NIMS hospital here seeking an explanation on conducting trials of Patanjali Ayurved’s drug Coronil on coronavirus patients, an official said on Friday.

“We served notice to the hospital on Wednesday evening seeking explanation in three days. The hospital did not inform the state government nor sought permission,” Chief Medical and Health Officer, Jaipur, Dr Narottam Sharma said.

He said the reply from National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Jaipur is awaited.

The launch of the drug by yoga guru Ramdev on Tuesday triggered a debate after which the Ayush Ministry sought all information on its trial and put a ban on advertising it as a drug to cure coronavirus.

The Rajasthan government has clarified that the drug cannot be not used as a medicine in the state without the permission of the Ministry of AYUSH.

State Health Minister Raghu Sharma had said on Wednesday that strict action would be taken against the seller as per the rules in case of sale of any drug as a medicine to treat the coronavirus infection.

At the Coronil launch, the company had claimed that its medicine can cure the contagious disease within seven days.

It said Coronil, taken along with another product developed by it, had shown a 100 per cent success rate in clinical trials on infected patients, except those on life support.

Ramdev said the medicines were developed by Patanjali Research Center, Haridwar in association with privately-owned National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Jaipur.

The Uttarakhand government will serve a notice to Patanjali Ayurved for launching a drug claiming to be a cure for COVID-19 when it had only applied for a licence to manufacture an immunity booster against cough and fever.

Apart from the notice from the Uttarakhand government, the Haridwar-based firm could also face litigation in Bihar. A complaint has been filed against it in a Muzaffarpur court over its claim.

A complainant approached the court seeking the registration of an FIR against Ramdev and company chairman Acharya Balkrishna, alleging that they put at risk the lives of lakhs of people by claiming to have developed a COVID-19 cure.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Mukesh Kumar posted the matter for hearing on June 30.