Guduchi, Ashwagandha, Ayush-64: Centre releases Ayurveda protocol to combat Covid-19 

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday recommended the use of common Ayurvedic formulations such as Guduchi, Ashwagandha, AYUSH-64 in treating mild and asymptomatic Covid-19 patients even though the clinical trials to ascertain their efficacy against the infectious disease are still underway.

In the national clinical management protocol for Covid-19 based on Ayurveda and Yoga, released by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and AYUSH minister Shripad Naik, specific measures were also been prescribed for preventing the disease in high-risk people and primary contacts of infected people.

Also, measures have been laid down for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic people apart from those who are suffering from post-Covid complications.

The guidelines, however, stay away from prescribing anything for moderate or severe disease.

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Ayurveda and Yoga can certainly play a pivotal role to augment preventive measures provided in the guidelines by the ministry, the government said in a statement adding that the current understanding of Covid-19 indicates that good immune status is vital to prevent and to safeguard from disease progression.

“This protocol dealing with preventive and prophylactic measures is a significant step in not only in the management of Covid but also in making traditional knowledge relevant to solving problems of the modern time,” the Centre said.

The recommendations are based on the report by an interdisciplinary committee for integration of Ayurveda and Yoga Interventions in the headed by Dr V M Katoch, former director-general of the ICMR.

The government maintained that the report was based on acceptable experimental and clinical data and these findings, indicating potential benefits and safety of the medicines, were presented before the National Task Force on Covid-19 and Joint Monitoring Group and subsequently developed into the protocol on the recommendations of NITI Aayog.

Based on their recommendations, the ministry of Ayush constituted a national task force which, in consensus from expert committees from various Ayush research organizations which in turn developed the protocol.

Experts, meanwhile, pointed out that it is not clear from the protocol if these recommendations can be used concurrently with allopathic treatment protocols.

“If they are going to be used together, there is a need to monitor for interactions and adverse events,” said public health researcher Dr Oommen John. “Since the post-marketing surveillance systems are still evolving in India there is an urgent need to ensure that active surveillance for adverse events and drug-drug interactions.”

He added that post-Covid symptoms are being reported across the globe and it is not just limited to pulmonary fibrosis.

“A range of symptoms suggestive of autoimmune-mediated responses have been seen and therefore how these agents interact with an immune-mediated inflammatory response in case of long Covid will need to be closely monitored and evaluated.”

Dr John also added that since most of these interventions will be administered at home, standardized patient-reported outcomes will be helpful in contributing to the body of evidence.