The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has appealed to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to intervene in the issue of yoga guru Baba Ramdev making “prejudicing utterances against modern medicine”. The doctors’ body alleged that Ramdev was making a mockery of modern medicines which was tantamount to the mockery of the life-saving protocols being worked out by the ICMR.
"We are seeking your indulgence as the statutorily authorized 'custodian' of modern medicine in the interest of the medical profession and medical professionals especially in the context of the material fact that self-styled Baba Ramdev through his ruthless public utterances is making a mockery of modern medicine and the professionals which tantamount to the mockery and ridicule of the life-saving protocols that have been worked out by the Indian Council of Medical Research and have been successfully put into operation that has resulted in unparalleled effectivity," the IMA wrote in its letter to the ICMR.
It said Ramdev in his public speeches has tarnished and undermined the responsible contribution of the ICMR in difficult times (like COVID-19 pandemic). It also accused the yoga guru of insulting the modern medicine professionals in the “most barbaric and beastly manner”.
In a recent video circulating on social media, Ramdev was seen saying that "allopathy ek aisi stupid aur diwalilya science hai… (allopathy is such a stupid science)".
He had further claimed that Remdesivir, Faviflu, and all other approved drugs by DCGI had failed and that lakhs of people had died after taking allopathic medicines.
The IMA had asked Union health ministry to take action against Ramdev under the Epidemic Diseases Act, saying his “unlearned statements” are a "threat to the literate society of the country as well as to the poor people falling prey to him".
The IMA statement prompted Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to shoot off a letter to Ramdev, urging him to withdraw his controversial statements. Following Vardhan’s letter, Ramdev said he was taking back his statements, but the very next day he came up with a set of 25 questions to the IMA.
"If allopathy does have a cure for everything then such doctors should never fall sick," Ramdev said in that letter as took a sarcastic jibe at the IMA.
The doctors’ body had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi while the Uttarahand chapter of the IMA served a defamation notice on Ramdev.
