Indian Govt Releases Protocol on Ayurveda and Yoga for COVID-19 Management

New Delhi: Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan today released National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for management of COVID-19.

An Interdisciplinary Committee for integration of Ayurveda and Yoga Interventions in the ‘National Clinical Management Protocol: COVID-19’, chaired by Dr V M Katoch, former Director General ICMR and composed of a group of experts with domain knowledge had formulated the report and submitted recommendations based on acceptable experimental and clinical data.

These findings, indicating potential benefits and safety of the medicines, were presented before the National Task Force on COVID 19 and Joint Monitoring Group and subsequently developed into the protocol on the recommendations of NITI Aayog.
Based on their recommendations, the Ministry of AYUSH constituted a National Task Force which, in consensus from expert committees from All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Delhi, Institute of Post Graduate Training and Research in Ayurved (IPGTRA), Jamnagar, and National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur, Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN) and other national research organizations, prepared the National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda & Yoga for management of COVID-19.

Hailing the achievement on the part of Ministry of AYUSH that the advisories for boosting the immunity of the people have become highly popular, Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized following AYUSH advisories for management of COVID-19 crisis. This protocol dealing with preventive and prophylactic measures is a significant step in not only in management of COVID but also in making traditional knowledge relevant to solving problems of the modern time.

He expressed satisfaction with the inclusion of easily available and common Ayurvedic herbs and formulations like Guduchi, Ashwagandha, AYUSH-64 in treating mild and asymptomatic COVID cases.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan spoke of the role of Ayurveda in the colonial struggle when Sh. Harvilas Sharda had compiled a section on Hindu medicine to argue for India’s contribution to the World, “Ayurveda can be traced to the Vedic age as a subtext of Atharva Veda. The science travelled to Persia and from there to Europe and had a significant impact in the foundations of Modern medicine”, he added.