The World Health Organisation (WHO) has clarified that it has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment of Covid-19, a day after Patanjali Ayurved claimed that its Coronil medicine has received certification from Ayush Ministry as per WHO’s certification scheme.
“@WHO has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment #Covid19,” WHO’s regional office for South-East Asia posted on its official twitter handle.
Patanjali Ayurveda managing director Acharya Balkrishna also tweeted that the Goods Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliant Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CPP) to Coronil has been issued by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). “It is clear that WHO does not approve or disapprove any drugs,” Balkrishna’s tweet added, stating that Patanjali was “clarifying to avoid confusion”.
Patanjali had claimed on Friday that its Coronil is the first ‘evidence-based’ medicine to fight Covid-19. The launch event of Coronil was done in the presence of Patanjali Ayurved promoter Baba Ramdev, union health minister Harsh Vardhan and transport minister Nitin Gadkari. “Coronil has received the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) from the Ayush section of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation as per the WHO certification scheme,” Patanjali had announced in a statement. The ayurveda products maker, which sells personal care and packaged foods products in the ayurveda space, had claimed that under the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP), Coronil can be exported to 158 countries, adding that on the basis of presented data, the Ministry of Ayush has recognised Coronil as a medicine for “supporting measure in Covid-19.”
Last year in July too, Patanjali had landed in a similar controversy when it announced the launch of Coronil, a medicine for Covid-19, which was followed by Ayush Ministry releasing a statement that Coronil can be sold only as an immunity booster and not as a cure. Patanjali later said it had not claimed that Coronil could “cure” the coronavirus. Subsequently, Patanjali promoted Coronil as an immunity booster.
