Hours after claiming that homeopathic treatment cured six COVID-19 patients, a government college in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday altered its statement as it said that the patients were treated using a mixture of allopathic and homeopathic medicines.
Bhopal collector Tarun Pithode, who had taken to Twitter on Monday to announce the same, later deleted his tweet.
The Government Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, situated in the vicinity of Khushilal Sharma Ayurvedic College in Bhopal, had claimed that the institution had prescribed homeopathic medicines including stannum, bryonia, alba, camphor, arsenic albom among others to patients on the basis of the symptoms they showed. "As a result, the condition of the patients showed marked improvement and none of them required oxygen," Dr Manoj Sahu said in a communique.
However, as health experts cried foul over procedural approvals for such alternative medicines, the homeopathic college stood its ground though with a small disclaimer.
Hospital superintendent Dr Sunita Tomar told News18 that the college was turned into a COVID-19 care centre by the state health department on May 13 and had admitted 46 patients. These infected persons are being treated as per ICMR and MoHFW guidelines and the standard procedures are being followed. The physician, however, could not shed light on the medicines involved in the therapy.
Dean of the college, SK Mishra reiterated Tomar's statement and further claimed that there has been some misreporting of the treatment with a possible intent to malign the image of the institution. The hospital is offering a mix of homeopathic and allopathic medicines to the infected persons based upon their symptoms and so far six patients have been discharged after recovery and three more are to be discharged on Tuesday. "We are assisted by a BMO, 4-5 medical officers and the CMHO also visits out facility,” claimed Mishra.
Rachna Dhingra, a volunteer activist fighting for health and other interests of Bhopal gas tragedy victims for years, said if the college had mistakenly claimed the success of homeopathic treatment why can’t they simply put up a disclaimer. "The administration is warning commoners against spreading rumours while here the government machinery is doing the same," she alleged.
A senior activist of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Amulya Nidhi also called for transparency and scientific approach if someone wishes to claim the success of any alternative therapy. "These (homeopathy and ayurvedic medicines) are supportive care, if you wish to hold clinical trials, it should be done in accordance with the norms laid down by agencies like Ayush ministry, ICMR and DCGI,” added Nidhi.
It’s high time, the MP government comes up with a health bulletin informing the public about all kinds of alternative care offered to treat covid19 patients, he demanded.
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