Ministry of AYUSH strongly refutes the baseless claim of NICE in the treatment of COVID-19
Some misleading claims for the treatment of COVID have been made by the naturopathic network NICE (Network of Influenza Care Experts). This claim has been published by some media platforms without verification of facts. The main claim made by NICE is with regard to developing a protocol for the treatment of COVID-19 which is said to be approved by the Ministry of AYUSH. However, the fact is that the claimant has unethically and misleadingly attributed the same to the approval of the Ministry of AYUSH. The Ministry of AYUSH has refuted this false claim saying that it strongly refutes all such claims of NICE and considers the publication of related news to be completely misleading and baseless.
The Ministry of AYUSH also clarifies that the said agency, NICE, had not made any application to the Ministry of AYUSH for the so-called protocol. If any proposal related to COVID-19 treatment/management is given to the Ministry by NICE, it will be thoroughly examined by the Interdisciplinary Technical Review Committee (ITRC). The committee has a well-organized and strict scientific scrutiny process for such verification. Without the approval of this committee, no agency belonging to the AYUSH stream can claim to have developed the protocol. NICE has done a very unethical, illegal and baseless act by claiming to have developed a naturopathy-based protocol approved by the Ministry of AYUSH for COVID-19 treatment. Equally serious is his act of using the name of the ministry without the explicit permission of the ministry.
False claims like NICE Ministry of Home Affairs Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-2(A), dated 24 March 2020 and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Order No. 1-29/2020-PP (Pt. III), dated March 24, 2020. These orders make false claims a punishable offense in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Some media outlets have published false claim made by NICE without verifying the facts from Ministry of AYUSH.
The National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN) Pune has categorically stated that the Network of Influenza Care Experts (NICE) has made huge and misleading claims. The claim pertains to the management/treatment of COVID-19 and NICE has wrongly claimed that its said protocol has been approved by the Ministry of AYUSH.
It is further emphasized that NIN, Pune working under the aegis of Ministry of AYUSH has already clarified in the local media that it is not only following the guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the management, treatment and prevention of COVID but also promotes these guidelines through information and various activities of the IEC.
