Even as the wide fluctuation in the number of persons tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu has dumbfounded medical experts in the State, two eminent doctors who are veteran medical researchers has charged the Union Government of being indifferent to the Indian system of medicine, especially Ayurveda, which have the capability to cure Covid-19. Tamil Nadu which had 1,075 coronavirus patients till April 12 saw the number shooting up to 1,520 by Monday evening, according to Dr C Vijaya Baskar, Minister of health .
The State saw 98 persons testing positive for coronavirus on April 13. The number came down to 31 on April 14 and increased slightly to 38 on ythe next day. On April 16, the State recorded only 25 positive cases and a visibly relaxed chief minister Edappadi Palanisami told reporters on Thursday that the worst was over for Tamil Nadu.
But the joy seemed to be short-lived as the number of persons tested positive on April 17 shot back to 56. Though on April 18 the figure came down to 49, on Sunday the State registered 105 positive cases. On Monday, 43 persons tested positive for coronavirus.
The death toll in Tamil Nadu is 16 and this continues to be in the safer zone. But the vast fluctuation in the number of patients testing positive for the virus has surprised the State Government.
Though it was expected that the Tamil Nadu government may announce some relaxation on Monday, it did not materialize. The Chief Minister had a lengthy meeting with the top bureaucrats and health experts on Monday morning and it was decided to continue the lockdown till May 3.
Meanwhile Prof B M Hegde (who had scientifically proved that the medicine for coronavirus lies in the Indian system of knowledge) said on Monday that the centre was not doing enough in encouraging Ayurveda research. “I am sorry to tell that the government is not at all serious about the potential and possibilities offered by Ayurveda and other system of medicine. We are not going to succeed with the overdependence on allopathic branch of medicine which has failed in all rounds,” Prof Hegde told The Pioneer.
Dr C V Krishnaswamy, Tamil Nadu’s leading physician, who is also the advisor to the high powered committee of Ayurvedic physicians appointed by the Centre to develop a cure for coronavirus said the regulatory bodies like ICMR were sitting on the findings submitted by the committee members about the potential of Ayurveda. “There is enough scope for us to make use of Ayurveda to come out with a holistic approach in curing coronavirus cases,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.