and self-styled healer Baba Ramdev may soon be in trouble for claiming to cure cancer and HIV, apart from other diseases, with yoga and concoctions marketed by his pharmacy. In a significant move, all state medical councils have united to act against the likes of Ramdev who have been claiming cure for diseases in televised discourses and through other means.
At a meeting held over the weekend in the Capital, state medical councils passed a resolution asking the Drug Controller General of India to book all those claiming magical cures under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954.
The Act prohibits any individual or company from claiming to cure diseases such as cancer and conditions like diabetes and obesity in their advertisements.
Several speakers at the meeting pointed out that Ramdev had been giving sponsored programmes on television and claiming to cure all such diseases listed in the Act.
Representatives of 22 state medical councils participated in the two-day meeting, hosted by the Delhi Medical Council, to discuss issues of common interest, including ethics in medical practice and quackery.
Registration of doctors and regulation of medical profession is a major function of state medical councils. But only the drug controller is empowered to initiate legal action against violators of the law against magical remedies.
The meeting suggested several measures to combat the growing menace of quackery. It was suggested that the punishment for those who practice medicine without any qualified degrees should be enhanced under the Indian Medical Council Act.
Under the law, those not trained in one system of medicine are not supposed to practice any other system of medicine.
Ramdev has been promoting cancer cure through television programmes and a video titled 'Yog cancer ke liye', being sold through his website.
In the hour-long video, also posted on the website YouTube, Ramdev claims he has been able to cure several types of cancer, including brain tumours, with a concoction of wheat grass juice, tulsi and leaves.
"You can consume 10 to 50 ml of this juice. Start on this if there is no improvement with chemotherapy or radiation. Consume as much as you can digest. There is no side effect of this juice. With this treatment, we have seen that blood cancer can be cured.
"I am telling you this because we have data and have also published results of our research," Ramdev tells his followers in the video. Along with wheat grass, he also recommends a daily regimen of pranayam for cancer treatment.
After a government servant died a few years ago because of excessive intake of bitter gourd (lauki) juice, as suggested by Ramdev, an expert panel set up by the Indian Council of Medical Research had warned people against consuming this juice.
Apart from Ramdev, the representatives of several states also pointed to the case of Jatin Chaudhry, who claims to be the physiotherapist of cricketer Yuvraj Singh.
The councils resolved to crack down against physiotherapists who use the Dr prefix, which according to a health ministry directive of 2003, can be used only by those practicing allopathy or recognised Indian systems of medicine such as Ayurveda and Unani.
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