Nellore: For the last four days, thousands of people from different parts of Andhra Pradesh and even neighboring states, have been thronging the clinic of Borige Anandaiah, a traditional Ayurvedic medical practitioner in Krishnapatnam, who has been distributing an Ayurvedic preparation that claims to offer a cure to Covid-19, free of cost.
On Friday morning, thousands of people queued up at Anandaiah’s clinic in Krishnapatnam village, following the announcement made by YSR Congress party MLA Kakani Goverdhan Reddy from Sarvepalli that the government was making all arrangements for distribution of Ayurvedic medicine.
As the crowds swelled by Friday afternoon, it led to a virtual stampede in the village, forcing the police to intervene and resort to lathicharge to disperse the crowds, stating that there was no permission for the distribution of medicine.
What is this medicine?
The medicine, in the form of balls or liquid drops, contains natural antioxidants and components such as pepper, ginger, neem, turmeric, and tinospora cordifolia, commonly known as giloy among others.
Anandiah prepares four kinds of ayurveda medicines and eyedrops to help Covid patients to recover, Deccan Chronicle quoted in a report.
He gave code names such as P (meant for clearing infection in lungs), F (to clear poisonous substances from the body), L (to activate the liver) and K (for critical cases) apart from the eyedrops.
Anandiah had become a local sensation after people in search of a cure for Covid began landing in droves at his doorsteps, after visuals of his treatment went viral on social media platforms. The distribution began on Sri Ramanavami day, on April 21.
He is giving the medicine free of cost to whoever approaches him.
Is the medicine trustworthy?
A native from the village, now residing in Chennai, told Deccan Chronicle that his village is almost free from the deadly virus after his relatives and friends distributed the medicine to the residents.
Krishnapatnam circle inspector Khaja Vali said, “One of the main reasons for the crowds is that people genuinely believe that this medicine could work and there haven’t been side effects reported so far. “
The YSRC MLA, who was overseeing the distribution of medicine, said the medicine had been distributed among thousands of people in the last few days but not a single person reported any side effects. “We interacted with several Covid-19 patients, who took the medicine and they said they were cured of the infection,” he said.
Interestingly, following reports in the local media about Anandaiah’s medicine, Nellore district collector K V N Chakradhar Babu last week constituted a committee comprising Ayush doctors and district officials to look into the efficacy of the Ayurvedic preparation made by Anandaiah.
“One of the COVID-19 patients saw his oxygen level rise to 95 from 83 in an hour after getting two drops of the medicine administered in his eyes. We have spoken to the patients,” the Ayush doctors mentioned in the report.
More studies to establish its efficacy
Following this, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday ordered a comprehensive study by the state medical and health department with the officials of the concerned departments like Department of Ayush.
The study will find out whether the Ayurvedic medicine being offered by Anandaiah has any scientific evidence, an official note from the CMO said.
Besides, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, who hails from Nellore district, asked Ayush minister Kiren Rijiju and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director Balram Bhargava to conduct a study on the medicine, and submit a report. The ICMR team would also be visiting the village to test the efficacy of Ayurvedic medicine.
The district collector said senior officials from Ayush, besides district medical and health officer (DMHO) had been sent to Krishnapatnam to collect the samples of the Ayurvedic medicine and send them for further testing.
“The formula and ingredients of the medicine would be sent to a lab in Hyderabad to analyze. We are also roping in the officials of the ICMR to investigate. Depending on the findings, the individual is free to approach the relevant authorities to obtain permissions through pre-established procedures for distribution of the medicine,” the collector said.