Lok Sabha Question No. 671 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-04
Subject: Containment and treatment of COVID-19 under AYUSH
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: N.K. Premachandran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYUSH

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 671 ANSWERED ON 04.02.2022

## CONTAINMENT AND TREATMENT OF COVID-19 UNDER AYUSH

## 671. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN :

Will the Minister of  AYUSH  be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has initiated action for containment and treatment of covid-19 and its variants under AYUSH;
- (b) if so, the details of the facilities provided under AYUSH therefor;
- (c) whether the Ministry conducted any study regarding the efficacy of AYUSH medicine for management of COVID-19 and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has issued permission to the Ministry for using its medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 and its variants and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government is aware that criticism is going on from the side of modern medicine regarding the use of AYUSH medicines for the management of COVID-19 patients and create confusion among them; and
- (f) if so, the action taken thereon?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF AYUSH (SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

- (a) & (b) Yes,  Sir.      The  Ministry  of  AYUSH  has  undertaken    various  initiatives    for management  and mitigation of  COVID-19  pandemic, details of which are at Annexure-I.
- (c) Ministry  of  AYUSH  has  also  launched  inter-disciplinary  studies  involving AYUSH  interventions  for  COVID-19  based  on  recommendations  of    Task Force.    Under  various  Research  Organizations    and  National  Institutes  under Ministry of AYUSH, 140 research studies in the country are being conducted on AYUSH  interventions.

- (d) The    Government  of  India  has  issued  the  'National  Clinical  Management Protocol for Management of COVID-19'  based on Ayurveda and Yoga.  The Ayurveda protocol includes guidelines for management of asysmptomatic  and mild COVID-19 cases and post-COVID  management.   The Ministry also issued 'Guidelines  for  Registered  Ayush  Practitioners  for  managing  the  COVID-19 pandemic',  'Guidelines  for  Ayush  Practitioners  for  COVID-19  Patients  in Home Isolation', and  'Advisory on AYUSH interventions for Prophylaxis and Management of COVID-19'.  All these guidelines are  uploaded on  the website of Ministry of AYUSH.

Ayush-64  and  Kabasura  Kudineer  were  re-purposed  in  management  of asymptomatic,  mild  and  moderate    COVID-19    positive  patients,  based  on research evidences.  Recently,  Ayur Care Kit was released for home isolation COVID-19 positive patients.

- (e) & (f) No  criticism    has  been  received  from  the  side  of  modern  medicinal  system regarding use of AYUSH medicines for the management of COVID-19 patients.

## Annexure-I

## Initiatives/Actions taken by Ministry of Ayush for management of COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Ministry of Ayush issued an advisory on how to protect yourself from COVID and how to stay healthy.  In  the  advisory,  in  addition  to  maintaining  hygiene  like  hand wash, use of mask etc. simple home remedies were also suggested for people.
2. A  letter  to  all  Chief  Secretaries  of  States  /  Union  territories  was  sent  from  the Ministry  with  more  specific  suggestions  on  augmentation  of  General  Immunity  of people and about possible AYUSH intervention wherever required in coordination with Health departments of the States / UTs.
3. A letter was sent to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) offering for integrating and utilizing huge AYUSH infrastructure to combat with the COVID19 pandemic.
4. Ministry  has  sent  a  D.O.  letter  to  Principals  of  all  Ayurveda,  Siddha,  Unani  and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) colleges for utilization of available infrastructure facilities like  Hospital  (IPD  &  OPD),  pathology  laboratory,  ICU  and  manpower  including medical  & Paramedical Staff to combat with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, they were requested to offer their services to local health authorities for utilization of the available facilities by them as per the situation arises. Accordingly, the various AYUSH institutes  hospital  were  utilized  by  State  Governments  and  designated  as quarantine centre, isolation centre, Covid care centre and Covid health centre.
5. Ministry of Ayush recommends self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and boosting immunity.
6.  General Measures
7.  Ayurvedic Immunity Promoting Measures
8.  Simple Ayurvedic Procedures
9.  During dry cough/sore throat
6. The Ministry of Ayush launched a three-month campaign on 'Ayush for Immunity', through  webinar  and  also  publishing  campaign  bulletin  on  AYUSH  for Immunity. More than 50 thousand people participated in the Webinar.
7. Ministry of Ayush and MoH&FW have jointly provided training to 33,000 AYUSH master  trainers.  Total  66045  AYUSH  Personnel  had  obtained  training  at  igot.in platform  on  continual  basis.  Ministry  of  Ayush  has  coordinated  with  MoHFW  for

utilisation of AYUSH manpower as COVID warrior for the management of COVID19 with identified roles.

8. Ministry  of  Ayush  has  formed  an  Inter-disciplinary  AYUSH  R&D  Task  Force chaired  by  Prof.  Bhushan  Patwardhan  and  having  representation  from  scientists, including  those  from  ICMR,  DBT,  CSIR,  AIIMS  and  AYUSH  Institutions.    The Interdisciplinary AYUSH Research and Development Task Force has formulated and designed clinical research protocols for prophylactic studies and add-on interventions in  COVID-19  positive  cases  through  thorough  review  and  consultative  process  of experts of high repute from different organizations across the country for studying four different interventions viz. Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi + Pippali and a poly herbal formulation (AYUSH-64).
9. Ministry of Ayush issued Gazette notification for undertaking research on COVID19 through Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy Systems including prophylactic measures, intervention during the quarantine, asymptomatic and symptomatic  cases  of  COVID-19,  Public  Health  Research,  Survey,  Lab-based Research etc.  to  generate  evidence.    Ministry  of  AYUSH  has  also  launched  interdisciplinary  studies  involving  AYUSH  interventions  for  COVID-19  based  on recommendations of Task force. Under various research organizations and National Institutes  under  Ministry  of  Ayush,  140  research  studies  in  the  country,  are  being conducted on AYUSH interventions.
10. AYUSH Sanjivani  mobile app has also been developed by Ministry of Ayush and has  documented  the  impact  assessment  of  effectiveness,  acceptance  and  usage  of AYUSH advisories & measures in the prevention of COVID-19 through Mobile app based  population study in around 1.35 crores respondents. 85.1% of the respondents reported use of AYUSH measures for prevention of COVID-19, among which 89.8% respondents agreed to have benefitted from the practice of AYUSH advisory.
11. Guidelines for Registered Practitioners of respective system of AYUSH have been prepared  by  Director  Generals  of  Research  Councils  and  Directors  of  National Institutes with their team of experts and the same are vetted by the Interdisciplinary AYUSH  Research  and  Development  Task  Force  of  Ministry  of  AYUSH.  These guidelines are made available in public domain for the benefit of registered AYUSH practitioners  including  Homoeopathy  to  help  in  the  management  of  COVID  19 pandemic uniformly.

12. Government of India has also released 'National Clinical Management Protocol for management  of  COVID-19'  based  on  Ayurveda  and  Yoga,  prepared  by  National Task Force.
13. Ministry  of  Ayush  has  also  released  Ayurveda,  Unani  and  Siddha  preventive measures for self-care during COVID-19 and Guidelines for Ayush Practitioners for COVID-19 Patients in Home Isolation.
14. Ministry  of  Ayush  has  also  issued  advisory  for  Ayush  practitioners  on  ethical practices during COVID-19 pandemic.
15. Ministry of Ayush vide its D.O. letter No. Y-18020/2/2020 -EP-III has requested all States/UTs  to  issue  appropriate  instructions  to  District  Authorities  urgently  to involve District Ayurveda Officers in the management and mitigation of COVID-19 in the districts and utilize the services of Ayush doctors, Ayush healthcare providers and Ayush health care facilities extensively so that the shortage of manpower and infrastructure for the management of COVID-19 can be duly addressed.
16. For continuing with the efforts to augment human resources for the management of COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Ayush has issued advisory to deploy the available trained AYUSH human resources for clinical management of COVID-19 cases.
17. Ministry of Ayush has released Home care guidelines for children and Advisory for AYUSH Practitioners  about  prophylactic  care  for  Children  during  the  COVID-19 pandemic.
18. Ministry of Ayush has released information for Ayurveda Practitioners for Prophylactic,  Symptomatic  Management  of  suspected  and  diagnosed  cases  of Mucormycosis.
19. Ministry  of  Ayush  has  also  released  AYUSH  recommendations  for  the  public  on holistic  health  and  well-being,  preventive  measures  and  care  during  COVID-19  & LONG COVID-19.
20. Ministry of Ayush has released guidelines for Ayurveda Practitioners for COVID-19 patients  in  Home  Isolation  and  Ayurveda  &  Unani  based  preventive  measures  for self-care during COVID-19 pandemic.
21. Ministry of Ayush has released an advisory on AYUSH interventions for prophylaxis & management of COVID-19 and AYUSH guidelines for COVID-19 cases for care givers.