Krishnapatnam Medicine for Covid-19: AP expert panel finds no ill-effects; ICMR team rushed to study

As the town of Krishnapatnam hit headlines for a local medicine capable to cure Covid-19 instantly within minutes reviving critically ill patients. While AYUSH ministry’s Ayurvedic doctors are conducting study on the medicine in the town, the person who has been giving the medcine by name Anandaiah, has emerged as the savior for now.

With Vice President Venkaiah Naidu ordering the ICMR to conduct a study and submit a report, a team of experts has been rushed to study the medicine, its constituents and side effects. While the report may not be ready even in a week’s time, the precarious situation of Covid-19 has forced many relatives of critical patients to rush for any succour that can save them.

A person just a few minutes away from losing the battle against Covid-19 was rushed to the place and given the medicine in the form of eye drops and the person recovered within minutes. Since the long term effects remain questionable, the question before the administration is to make the process systematic, if not abandon entirely.

Not exactly Ayurveda but traditional medicine

B. Anandaiah, who has been giving the traditional medicine, which does not entirely fit into Ayurvedic medicinal traits, has been open about the contents, which are to be tested by the team of experts on Saturday. He says the medicine was a mixture of several locally available herbals that has been given by his family for centuries. The medicine, being given in the form of five medicines, is given based on the severity of Covid infection in a patient, said Anandaih in an interview to the TV9 channel on Friday.

Anandaiah, who is giving traditional medicine to save severely ill Covid-19 patients in Krishnapatnam, Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a team of Ayurvedic doctors from the Department of Ayush that visited the village on Wednesday has submitted a report to the government, saying the medicine preparation, treatment process and the side effects should be studied scientifically. Since nobody is complaining about any ill effects after taking the medicine, the team could not provide any negative report on the medicine for now, pending the ICMR study next.

Anandaiah has been preparing five different medicines using natural herbs, honey and spices, which he claims to have been giving for lung diseases for long. “One of the COVID-19 patients saw his oxygen level rise to 95 from 83 in an hour after getting two drops of the medicine administered in his eyes. We have spoken to the patients,” the Ayurvedic doctors said in their report in which the district medical and health officer and Nellore Revenue Divisional Officer were also part.

The only point the team made was that nobody was following the rules of Covid safety such as wearing mask or maintaining the social distance. Local YSR Congress MLA K Govardhan Reddy supporting the medicine distribution, AP Deputy Chief Minister (Health) A K K Srinivas said, “We have decided to get it studied by the ICMR and other experts to determine its efficacy.”

However, doctor-turned-bureaucrat P V Ramesh, termed the Krishnapatnam medicine as “yet another recipe for disaster” and called for the government “to stop such epidemics of superstition. Those preparing and promoting this Krishnapatnam concoction are punishable under the Pharmacy Act, 1948, and Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954.”

The SPS Nellore district medical and health officer and Nellore Revenue Divisional Officer were also part of the official team. The team, however, said no COVID-19 rules were being followed in the village where the medicine was being given. On Friday, there was a virtual stampede at Krishnapatnam as over 10,000 people thronged there for the medicine, the supply of which was resumed after a break for a few days.