Ayush medics can prescribe drugs for Covid prevention: Government

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that Ayurveda, unani and homoeopathy practitioners can prescribe drugs for prevention of Covid-19 by boosting immunity but cannot claim that their medicines can cure such patients.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta informed a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, RS Reddy and MR Shah that Ayush practitioners have been provided with norms to prescribe drugs for boosting immunity or for symptomatic treatment of Covid-19 patients. “While approving the medicines, the Ayush ministry had clarified that it could not be claimed that these medicines can cure Covid-19,” Mehta said. The bench said all Ayush practitioners must adhere to the norms.

The Ayush ministry said homoeopathic medical practitioners were permitted to prescribe drugs, as mentioned in the guidelines, as an add-on to the conventional treatment for patients who had tested positive. Since it has approved prescription of homoeopathic medication as an add-on treatment, the only embargo is that the said medicines should not be administered or advertised as a cure but should be administered as preventive measure/immunity booster, it said.