Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali swallows bitter pill, makes shameful U-turn on Coronil claims

Amid coronil row, Patanjali changed its claims on Coronil that was launched by Baba Ramdev for coronavirus treatment, a week ago.

The new statement has been made by Acharya Balkrishna, the MD of Patanjali Ayurveda that the company has never claimed that the ayurvedic drug could cure the highly contagious virus that has infected over 1 crore people across the world.

"We never said that the medicine [Coronil] can cure or control coronavirus, we said that we had made medicines and used them in clinical-controlled trials which cured coronavirus patients. There is no confusion in it," Acharya Balkrishna told ANI.

He also added that the company did not advertise the self-touted "cure" for Coronavirus infection and just tried to tell people about its effects.

This surprising U-turn has come after government and citizens have raised questions on the benefits and effectiveness of the Coronil kit, which was launched by Yoga guru Ramdev on June 23.

During the launch event of the Coronil at Haridwar-based Patanjali Ayurved, Baba Ramdev claimed that the drug could cure the novel-coronavirus. He also claimed that the drug, when taken with another product of Patanjali, all the coronavirus patients, on whom the trial was conducted, was recovered within seven days.

Patanjali also claimed that the trial was conducted in association with the NIMS, a Jaipur-based private institute.

The controversy began after the AYUSH ministry asked Patanjali Ayurved to provide all details on the drug and its composition and also asked the company to stop all its advertisement till the issue is examined.

Patanjali Ayurved had claimed that it had fulfilled all the legalities and also said that they had submitted all the documentation to the government.

Earlier, Acharya Balkrishna also told ANI: "We have followed all procedures to manufacture the medicine (Coronil). We applied for the license based on classical evidence of the compounds used in the medicine. We worked on the compounds and put out the results of the clinical trial before people.”

"We have not done anything wrong while obtaining the license. We did not advertise the medicine (Coronil), we just tried to tell people about the effects of the medicine," he added.

After the controversy on Coronil kit, the Rajasthan Police on Saturday lodged an FIR against Baba Ramdev, including four others-MD of Patanjali Ayurved Acharya Balkrishna, Director of National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMS), Jaipur, BS Tomar; his son Anurag Tomar, and senior scientist Anurag Varshney.

Also Read: COVID-19 Ayurvedic medicine claim: 'Ramdev must be punished,' says Rajasthan Health Minister