Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna told news outlets on Tuesday that the company never claimed that its Coronil kit is a cure for COVID-19. BOOM found multiple instances where the organisation claimed to have found a cure for COVID-19, one of which is where Baba Ramdev calls the medicine a cure.
Acharya Balkrishna was reported to have said that the organisation did not claim that their medicine- Corona kit can cure or control coronavirus but stated that they had made medicines and used them in clinically controlled trials which cured corona patients.
In another interview to Amar Ujala, Balkrishna went on to say that neither did they advertise the product, nor did they give it in newspapers that the product cures COVID-19. He further elaborated that they only shared results of a trial that they had conducted. He claimed that the organisation had sought a license for the products to be used as immunity boosters and then after the licensing tried them on corona patients after registering for a clinical trial. A spokesperson for Patanjali was not immediately reachable. The story will be updated if we receive a response.
This clinical trial was carried out in collaboration with National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Jaipur. They wanted to share the results of patients recovering after consuming their Coronil tablet- made from Ayurvedic products of Giloy, Tulsi and Ashwagandha, Swasari Vati tablets and Anu Taila.
Fact Check
Even though Balkrishna claims they did not advertise the product, the organisation called for a press conference on June 23, to announce that a medicine that they had found cured COVID-19. On June 23, during the launch, Patanjali founder and yoga guru Ramkrishna Yadav better known as Baba Ramdev repeatedly stated that their medicine was a cure for Corona. He mentioned that Corona patients had a 100% recovery rate from COVID-19 in three days after consuming their medicine.
The AYUSH ministry had then asked the organisation to share its research documents while the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority clarified that they did not license the product as a potential cure for COVID-19.
BOOM found six different instances of Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna, and Patanjali spokesman SK Tijarawala claiming that Patanjali has created a medicine specially for COVID-19
"This is Not Only Control, Cure Hai": Ramdev
BOOM accessed the video of the press conference from June 23 held in Patanjali Yogapeeth , Haridwar. At the 6:36 minute mark in the attached video, Ramdev says, "This medicine, Corona's first Ayurvedic treatment is not only a control, but it is a cure."
'Launch of first evidence based ayurvedic medicine for COVID-19': Social media captions
BOOM looked through Patanjali's social media accounts and found that Patanjali has described the press conference as 'the launch of the first evidence-based ayurvedic medicine for COVID-19 by Patanjali' in its captions on both Twitter and Facebook.View the archives here and here.
'First one to find ayurvedic cure': Press Release
The Hindi press release leads with Patanjali having found a medicine for the COVID-19 global pandemic. The first bullet point in the press release uses the word 'upchar' which is the word for treatment in Hindi. The bullet point states that Patanjali is the first one to conduct a clinical trial as well as find an Ayurvedic medicine for curing COVID-19.
'Breakthrough In Cure Of COVID-19': Press Conference Invite
The press conference invite explicitly mentions that this press conference was being held to share a 'major breakthrough in cure of COVID-19'. The findings of the clinical trial were shared as a cure for COVID-19.
Spokesperson's Tweets
BOOM found that the spokesperson for Patanjali, SK Tijarawala tweeted that the press conference was for announcing a major breakthrough the cure for COVID-19. View the archive of the tweet here.
Violation of Community Guidelines: Twitter And Youtube
YouTube removed the video of the press conference linked in Patanjali's tweet citing that it violated community guidelines. The link of the video attached in Patanjali's tweet is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5QrHmS64qw. The Youtube community guidelines page opens on clicking this link.
Twitter also removed a tweet that Acharya Balkrishna had retweeted.
On looking through the archives, BOOM found that the deleted tweet was tweeted by Patanjali Ayurved's handle and discussed the launch of the kit. It also contains pictures of the kit and an array of ayurvedic products. View the archive here.
The AYUSH ministry task force has asked the Ministry to not allow Ramdev to sell its medicines as cure for COVID-19, reported The Print.
Also Read: No,This Letter Is Not AYUSH Ministry's Nod To Patanjali's Coronil