Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin has cracked the whip to flatten the corona curve in Tamil Nadu. To begin with he has ordered the opening of 12 Sidha Covid Care Centres across the State following the findings of a Chennai based scientist that a Sidhaa herbal preparation has the potential to counter Covid-19 virus.
M Subramanian, Medical and Family Welfare Minister dedicated to the people a 240-bed exclusive Sidha Centre in Chennai metropolis on Sunday.
The Chief Minister has asked his council of ministers as well as bureaucrats not to leave any stones unturned in their search for a solution to check the spread of the pandemic in its second coming.
Stalin took notice of the positive signals from Ministry of Ayush which gave green signal to the use of Kabasura Kudineer , a Sidha poly herbal preparation in the treatment of Covid-19.
“The Chief Minister is of the view that opening of Sidha hospitals would bring down the pressure on tertiary hospitals. Not all patients require oxygen support,” said Subramanian.
The move to go for Sidha Care Centres comes at a time when a Chennai based scientist along with his colleagues in South Korea and Ethiopia successfully established the efficacy of Kabasura Kudineer in neutralising viral infections that cause SARS or Covid.
Prof Savariar Vincent, former dean of Research, Loyola College, Chennai, S Arokyaraj (Sejong University, Seoul), M Saravanan (Mekelle University, Ethiopia) and Manoj Dhanraj through a painstaking research found out that Kabasura Kudineer is effective against fever, cough, sore-throat and shortness of breath (similar to SARS-CoV2-like symptoms).
“We established by a process known as molecular docking that the main compounds from Kabasura Kudineer plants inhibit Covid -19 giving the better energy score compared to synthetic drugs,” said Prof Vincent who led and integrated the research operations that took place in laboratories spread across India, South Korea and
Ethiopia.
He said that 145 phyto-compounds from Kabasura Kudineer were subjected to research. “This study hypothesizes that a group of compounds from KK may exert its antiviral properties against novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 by either blocking the host cell receptor or inhibiting the key viral protease required for its replication in the host cell,” Prof Vincent told The Pioneer.
It is sure that Kabasura Kudineer is all set to render light on the drug discovery studies for the treatment of viral infections similar to SARS or COVID-19 in future.
As a shot in the arm, Frontiers in Molecular Bio Sciences, a leading journal from Switzerland published the findings of Dr Vincent and his team in its December 2020 issue. The researchers concluded that the emergent mutant virus is unstoppable including MERS-COV, SARS-CoV and SARS CoV-2 and fast-spreading UK-type variants of SARS-CoV-2.
It is high time we integrated all the treatment system in our country including Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy for the control of emerging viruses. Kabasura Kudineer has the potential compounds which could be used to develop effective antiviral therapeutics for the prevention of COVID-19 and also newly emerging viruses, opined Prof Vincent.