Covid-19 treatment: 4 Ayurvedic medicines clear for trial

The government will conduct a randomised controlled clinical trial to assess the efficacy of Ayurvedic drug Ashwagandha as a preventive intervention among healthcare professionals and high-risk coronavirus population in comparison with hydroxychloroquine. This will be a joint initiative of the ministries of AYUSH, health, and science and technology through the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) with technical support from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The Interdisciplinary Ayush R&D Task Force has formulated and designed clinical research protocols for prophylactic studies and add-on interventions in Covid-19 positive cases thorough review and consultative process of experts of high repute from different organisations across the country for studying four different interventions viz. Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu (Mulethi), Guduchi +Pippali (Giloy) and a poly herbal formulation (AYUSH-64)

Population based interventional studies on impact of AYUSH based prophylactic interventions

The ministry of AYUSH is initiating population based studies to study the impact of Ayurvedic interventions in prevention of Covid-19 infection in high risk population. The core objectives comprise of, assessment of preventive potential of AYUSH interventions for Covid-19 and also to assess the improvement in quality of life in high risk population. The study will be carried out in 25 states across the country and several state governments covering approximately 5 lakhs population.

The outcome of the study would certainly pave a new horizon in understanding the preventive potential of AYUSH interventions during pandemics like Covid- 19 through scientific evidence.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had launched Ayush Sanjivani mobile app Developed by the Ministry of AYUSH and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), the mobile application aims to reach out to 50 lakh people.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus patients in the country rose to 59,662, according to the data released by Union Ministry of Health. The number of COVID-19 related deaths in India increased to 1,981.