The confrontation between Ramdev and IMA saw a new turn today. A defamation notice was served on the Yogaguru by the Uttarakhand division of Indian Medical Association for alleged disparaging remarks against allopathy and allopathic doctors. The notice has demanded a written apology from Ramdev within 15 days of its receipt. It also said that a compensation of Rs 1000 crore will be demanded from him.

On behalf of the secretary of IMA (Uttarakhand), Ajay Khanna, his lawyer Neeraj Pandey had served the notice to Ramdev. The notice served was six-page, and it describes the remarks made by Ramdev as damaging to the reputation and the image of allopathy and around 2,000 practitioners of it who are part of the association. It termed the remarks made by Ramdev, a criminal act under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code. If Ramdev fails to issue a written apology within 15 days, then he will have to pay Rs 1000 crore in compensation at the rate of Rs 50 lakh per member of IMA.

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Tightening the requirements of apology from Ramdev, the notice has asked for a video clip from him contradicting all his allegations and has asked him to circulate it on social media platforms where he had uploaded his earlier video levelling those allegations.

The notice has further asked Ramdev to withdraw a misleading advertisement from all platforms endorsing “Coronil kit”, a product of his firm, as an effective medicine for Covid-19. If he fails to do so, an FIR and a criminal case will be lodged against him by the IMA.

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Ramdev received a lot of flak from IMA and several doctors, who demanded his prosecution over his statements questioning the efficacy of allopathy medicines. He was seen reading out from his phone in the 140-second long video, which was shared widely on social media. Over unscientific statements and claims made by Ramdev, IMA had said, “Enough is enough”. The body had also slammed him for what it called “repeatedly taking advantage of the situation and creating fear among the public to sell his illegal drugs.” The Association had also asked the union health minister to prosecute him under Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 or accept his accusations and dissolve the modern medical facility, which was a jibe at the indifferent attitude shown by the ministry.

On Sunday, the face of Patanjali was forced to withdraw a statement made in a viral video clip in which he is heard questioning some of the medicines being used to treat the coronavirus infection and saying that “lakhs have died from taking allopathic medicines for Covid-19”.

His remarks were met with vociferous protests from the doctors’ association. Subsequently, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked him to withdraw the “extremely unfortunate” statement. Since then, on social media, many people have been calling him a big-time charlatan who markets useless materials as medicines.

A day later, in an ‘open letter’ on his Twitter handle, Ramdev posed 25 questions to the IMA, asking if allopathy offered permanent relief for ailments such as hypertension and type-1 and 2 diabetes.

In the audacious letter with the questions, he went on to list certain modern day ailments such as Parkinson’s disease and wondered if allopathy had any painless cure to treat infertility as well as to reverse ageing and increase hemoglobin.

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Last year, the Yoga guru had raised many eye brows on his launch of Coronil, which was marketed as a cure of Covid19, without any scientific backup. Ramdev, flanked by eight people on a stage had launched Coronil and Swasari Vati as a “cure” for coronavirus, on June 23, 2020, in a self-praising chest-thumping event at Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar.

On the launch of Coronil, Dinesh S. Thakur, a public health activist and an expert in drug regulation had said, “Purely from a process point of view, it (the Patanjali claim) makes a mockery of drug regulation in India. I do not understand what is the point of having the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, which provides for criminal prosecution.”

He had further added, “In this case, there is a clear violation of the law because the company went on television and said they have a 100% cure for covid-19. Ramdev did not say he had promising early stage results.”

Ultimately, the relevant medical authorities are showing Ramdev his futility and ineptitude in the field of medical science. The recent series of castigations and the latest defamation suit clearly reflect the stand taken by the medical authorities which shows Ramdev his place in the world of professional medicine.