In perhaps what is one of the biggest media related announcements this week, the Press Council of India (PCI) has issued an advisory to all media houses regarding giving publicity to Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy etc ‘information’ that claims to treat Coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The advisory stated that the print media should stop, “publicity and advertisement of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19 treatment.” This advisory, according to PCI, had been issued , “in order to prevent dissemination of misleading information about AYUSH drugs and services in view of the emerging threat in the country due to the COVID-19 outbreak.” 

This is an important guideline from the PCI that was first constituted on July 4, 1966 as an autonomous, statutory, quasi-judicial body. Its functions and objectives are listed under the The Press Council Act, 1965.

According to media reports the advisory comes in the wake of concerns raised by many healthcare professionals about the claims that Coronavirus spread can be contained, or Covid-19 cured by using ayurvedic or homeopathic medicine, or other such ‘cures’ that  that have been shared on social media ever since the pandemic spread. Many such claims have come as ‘news’.

Some of these claims had come from the very top. According to a PTI report, later reproduced in publications such as The Week, Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik said that an ayurvedic practitioner from Bengaluru claimed to have cured Prince Charles of Britain of coronavirus. “There is an ayurveda practitioner who runs an ayurvedic resort named ‘Saukhya’ in Bangalore who called me to tell that coronavirus infection of Prince Charles was treated by his formula. It is a mix of ayurveda and homeopathy,” Naik has reportedly said adding, “it shows how ayurvedic and homeopathic drugs can help treat coronavirus.”  

This claim was quickly refuted by Prince Charle’s office. “This information is incorrect. The Prince of Wales followed the medical advice of the NHS in the UK and nothing more,” a Clarence House spokesperson had said and this too was widely reported.

As posted on its own website the Ministry of AYUSH has stated that it has been “receiving numerous suggestions from practitioners and institutions in the AYUSH Sector regarding possible solutions from AYUSH disciplines to restrain the spread of the Covid -19 pandemic.”

To accommodate all these suggestions the ministry set up a registration system for AYUSH practitioners and institutions. All they have to do is register their details and submit their suggestions. 

Even the PIB website has information on “Homeopathy for Prevention of Coronavirus Infections,” and lists of “Unani Medicines useful in symptomatic management of CoronaVirus infection”, these posts have been live since January 29.

“The outbreak of a mysterious new CoronaVirus is rapidly spreading. The whole world is going through the fear of this Corona Virus, the Research Councils under the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India have issued advisory based on the Indian traditional medicine practices Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani,” read one such post.

A press release issued on March 7 may be read here, and a screen-shot of an excerpt may be viewed here:

Apart from repeating the measures for prevention of air-borne infections as suggested by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ayush Ministry also had information that claimed a certain homeopathic drug “could be taken as prophylactic medicine against Coronavirus infections”, and also gave out the dosage. 

It was also  reported that Prime Minister had Narendra Modi held video conferences with the Ayush ministry officials, urged AYUSH practitioners to help combat coronavirus According to a report in the Deccan Herald the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested that “AYUSH medicine producers could utilise their resources to produce essential items such as sanitisers, keeping in mind the high demand for such items following the coronavirus outbreak.” 

The PM had also shared ayurvedic tips given by the Ayush ministry on how to boost immunity. “I urge you to have a look at the Ayush ministry protocol, make it a part of your life and share it with others,” he had posted. 

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The Press Council of India’s advisory comes at a crucial juncture in the fight against the pandemic. Scientific journals across the world have already dismissed claims of homeopathy etc curing or preventing Covid-19. 

The Scientist quotes Irish science writer David Robert Grimes as saying, “It is profoundly irresponsible of the Ministry of AYUSH to endorse homeopathy as this entirely undermines public understanding of science and medicine, and elevates pseudoscience with potentially dangerous consequences.” 

Related:

Dealing with Corona Virus: No place for blind Faith

The post Stop publicity of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19 treatment: Press Council appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The editor of The Milli Gazette, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan has alleged that the Modi government is hounding his publication and has launched a multi-pronged attack in an attempt to shut it down. While the community-oriented publication has tottered on the brink since inception for lack of adequate response and support from Muslims, the government moves, Dr Khan fears, are aimed at pushing it over the precipice.

On March 12 this year, The Milli Gazette published a news report filed by a freelance journalist, Pushp Sharma. Basing himself on one of the documents he had received from the Union Ayush Ministry in response to an RTI query, Sharma claimed that in its recruitment, the ministry had discriminated against Muslims.  

The ministry issued a press statement the same day claiming that the document Sharma relied on for his report was “fabricated” and that the report was “clearly aimed at causing chasm between different sections of society and promoting disharmony and mistrust with ulterior motives”.

In an email received by SabrangIndia, Dr Khan maintains that though the publication stood by the report it was “all-along ready to publish a rejoinder, statement or clarification should the ministry send it to us.” The ministry, however, chose to file a police complaint.

“As a result, the journalist (Pushp Sharma), who wrote that story, was mercilessly interrogated for days and later arrested and jailed for around two weeks. Now he is out on bail while the case takes its normal slow course in courts”.

While the case against Sharma follows its own course, Dr Khan alleges that the Press Council and the Delhi police are out to get the publication itself. The show cause notice issued to The Milli Gazette by the Delhi police is a step towards the declaration of the publication as illegal.

Set up by the Indian Parliament in 1966, the Press Council of India is a regulatory body with the power to censure a publication at worst. The Council’s suo motu action against The Milli Gazette, Dr Khan alleges is “unprecedented” as “an authority supposedly created to protect the freedom of press, was in fact throttling that same cherished freedom”.   

Here is the full text of the email sent out by Dr Khan:

During the 17 years of our existence, The Milli Gazette has faced many threats and challenges. I myself have received numerous death threats. MG’s continued losses, dwindling subscriptions due to our own website and a disinterest by the community too have been our problems which forced us twice to think of closing down MG though on second and third thoughts we refrained from taking such a drastic step knowing very well that, however feeble, our community needs this voice in English more than at any time in the past and this voice mattered not only in India but across the world.

Now, since March 12 this year, we are facing an existential threat from the Modi government following our publication of a report on discrimination against Muslims in the Ayush ministry recruitments based on an RTI reply which the said ministry denied.

It could have sent a rejoinder or, at worst, could have complained to the concerned regulatory authority, the Press Council of India in case we refused to publish its rejoinder. We were all-along ready to publish a rejoinder, statement or clarification should the ministry send it to us. Instead, it chose to file a police complaint.

As a result, the journalist (Pushp Sharma), who wrote that story, was mercilessly interrogated for days and later arrested and jailed for around two weeks. Now he is out on bail while the case takes its normal slow course in courts.

Soon, on April 21, the Press Council of India took suo motu cognisance and opened a case against The Milli Gazette. This action was unprecedented as an authority supposedly created to protect the freedom of press, was in fact throttling that same cherished freedom. We have replied to PCI’s letter and the case continues. Our next hearing at the PCI is on July 12.

A third bolt came from the Delhi police (directly controlled by the Union home ministry) when DCP Licensing wrote to us on May 30 as to why our newspaper declaration should not be cancelled. Cancellation of the declaration means the newspaper will become illegal. We replied without fail to this show-cause notice and are still waiting for further clarifications from the DCP Licensing despite the passage of over three weeks on our hand-delivered reply.

All these drastic steps were taken to deal with an ordinary report which could have been tackled through a press statement like the one CBI issued on 15 June this year describing a Times of India report about CBI’s soft-pedalling over the Vyapam scandal. The CBI issued a press statement the same day saying the report is “speculative & presumptuous and hence, is strongly denied.” Strong words indeed, but we are not aware if CBI, PCI or DCP Licensing have sprung into action against the Times of India. Do we have two standards: one for small publications and another for big giants?

This three-pronged attack on MG simply shows the desperation of the Modi government to silence this little nagging bird. We are fighting and will continue to fight against this injustice through all legal venues open to us. But should the Modi government succeed in silencing this feeble voice, we will call it a day and will leave it to history to remember this as yet another colossal injustice to the freedom of Press the like of which was inflicted by the colonial rulers on Maulana Azad’s Al-Balagh and Muhammad Ali’s Hamdard and Comrade.  

The post ‘Modi Government is after the Milli Gazette’: Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, Editor appeared first on SabrangIndia.