Along with the outrage, Ramdev had also drawn a legal notice from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), demanding a written apology for the statement.
Yoga guru Ramdev, owner and face of one of India’s biggest consumer goods and alternative medicine empires Patanjali, on Sunday said he was “withdrawing” remarks in which he ostensibly said more people died of modern medical treatments during the COVID-19 crisis than the coronavirus itself following a massive controversy.
The statement by the Yoga Guru came shortly after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan wrote a letter to him, asking to withdraw the statement.
“Received your letter Dr Harsh Vardhan. In that context and to end the whole controversy over the conflict of different treatments with regrets, I am withdrawing my statement,” Ramdev tweeted.
Just a few minutes later, however, he again retweeted a post by a Twitter user that said: “Yoga and Ayurveda give us compete health. Modern medical science has limitations. It only gives symptomatic treatment whereas Yoga and Ayurveda gives systemic treatment.”
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, in a two-page letter written in Hindi, told Ramdev: “The people of the country are very hurt with your remark on allopathic medicines. I have already told about this feeling over phone. Doctors and health workers are like gods for the people of the country for whom they are fighting against the coronavirus risking their lives.”
“You have not only insulted Corona warriors, but have hurt the feelings of the people of the country. Your clarification yesterday is not enough to make up for it… I hope you will think hard on it and withdraw your statements completely,” he added.
Along with the outrage, Ramdev had also drawn a legal notice from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), demanding a written apology for the statement that it said damaged the reputation of practitioners of allopathy and modern medicine when they are striving to save lives during the pandemic.
Besides the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which represents 3.5 lakh doctors, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) too served a legal notice to Ramdev, condemning the “baseless and unscrupulous claims made for cheap publicity”.
In a video clip that went viral, Ramdev was allegedly heard saying: “Lakhs of people have died because of allopathic medicines, far more than those who died because they did not get treatment or oxygen.” He also purportedly called allopathy a “stupid and bankrupt” science.
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