The controversy over Yoga guru Ramdev’s negative remarks over the science of allopathic medicine has been raging over the last few days and since it came with the Covid pandemic at backdrop, a considerable attention among the global medical fraternity has also been generated. The IMA had already lodged a police complaint against the Yoga guru and sought an FIR over his remarks which it said were “dishonest and wrongful representations” on allopathy and its Uttarakhand unit has slapped a Rs 1,000 crore defamation notice. While all these are going on, doctors at several hospitals across the country on Tuesday staged a symbolic protest by observing a Black Day through peaceful demonstrations seeking Ramdev’s arrest and an unconditional open public apology from him for his remarks. It’s rather unfortunate and unthinkable that a face-off of such magnitude has erupted in a country where countless branches of medical science have been coexisting for centuries that have actually been complementing each other. There might be various explanations regarding the ‘intolerance’ that forms an important aspect of the controversy. However, from the social science point of view, it is very likely that the hidden cause might lie in the gradual decay of the pluralistic pattern of the Indian society where inclusiveness as a major binding force is facing a fade-out.

There’s hardly any need left to elaborate the details of the video since it took very little time to go viral. However, a particular line from the video needs to be recalled. “A thousand doctors have died even after getting the double dose of vaccines. What kind of doctors are they if they could not save themselves?”- these were exactly the words uttered by the Yoga guru while conducting a yoga session. The IMA has correctly pointed out the factual error as the truth is only 3 % of the doctors who died while fighting Covid pandemic were completely inoculated i.e. have had the opportunity to take both doses of the vaccine. It’s also not the first time that such an anti-modern-medicine remark has come from the Yoga guru. Allopathy is a stupid science and drugs such as remdesivir (duly approved by the Drugs Controller General of India) had failed to treat Covid patients, was his other notable claim. And the controversy over a particular Covid-curing medicine made and promoted by the organization he founded with the claim that it has been approved by the WHO is still alive.

Each and every branch of medicine has its benefits and limitations. When one fails, the other(s) are called- that’s the way it has been for ages in India. Any claim that a particular one is the best and all others are bogus is ridiculous.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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