SC allowed homeopathy as add on to standard care in COVID-19 treatment: Kiren Rijiju informs Lok Sabha

New Delhi [India], February 12 (ANI): The Supreme Court has upheld the advisory of the Ministry of AYUSH in its judgment dated December 15, 2020, and permitted the use of homeopathy medicine as add on to standard care in COVID-19 treatment. This was clarified by Kiren Rijiju, Additional Charge of Minister of State (IC) for the Ministry of AYUSH to the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The clarification was in reply to a question asked by Member of Parliament, E.T. Mohammed Basheer. The Minister added that while Homoeopathy treatment is not to be given in standalone mode for COVID-19 treatment, the Ministry of AYUSH through an advisory issued in March 2020 and the 'Guidelines for AYUSH practitioners for COVID-19' allowed AYUSH interventions including homeopathy as add on to standard care.
He also informed the House that the Ministry of AYUSH has taken many steps with the help of AYUSH systems of Medicine including homeopathy for COVID-19 related treatment, and cited the Ministry's advisory issued on January 29, 2020, on 'how to protect oneself from COVID and how to stay healthy' (which received wide attention and was adopted by large sections of the population).
The Minister also cited the important letter dated March 6, 2020, issued by the Ministry of all Chief Secretaries of States/ Union territories conveying specific suggestions on augmentation of general immunity of people and about possible AYUSH interventions.
The self-care guidelines issued by the Ministry on March 31, 2020, for preventive health measures and enhancing immunity with special reference to respiratory health (which also received wide acceptance) was also mentioned by him.
"The reply furnished by the AYUSH Minister also brought out some other information of public interest in the matter of management of Guidelines for Registered Practitioners of respective system of AYUSH (including Homoeopathy), made available in the public domain for the benefit of registered AYUSH practitioners including Homoeopathy to help in the management of COVID-19 pandemic uniformly," read the press release by the Ministry of AYUSH.
Further, the AYUSH Ministry through various research organizations and National Institutes under the Ministry of AYUSH has conducted about 105 interdisciplinary clinical studies (including 20 studies of homeopathy) at 136 centres in the country.
Clinical research studies are conducted on AYUSH interventions as prophylactic interventions in high-risk populations targeting approximately 5 lakhs population and as an add-on to standard care to COVID-19 management. (ANI)