AYUSH Ministry’s Health Advisory in COVID-19-A Critical Review

Abstract

Outbreak of “Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2)” infection took place in “Wuhan, Hubei Province, China” in December 2019, which spread across all over the Globe. WHO officially termed the disease caused by the new Coronavirus as “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” on 12 February 2020. Being viral disease, at present no specific treatment or vaccines approved for COVID-19. Social distancing and practicing healthy lifestyle to boost immunity are the best possible options to deal with it. Though there is progress in Medical science regarding immunization and development of medicine, there is lack of vaccines for prevention of many viruses and effective antiviral medicines. India’s Ministry of traditional medicine or AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy) issued “Advisory” advocating preventive measures against the viral infection on 29 January 2020. There is severe criticism to “Advisory of AYUSH Ministry” from Indian Medical experts across the Nation for making such declaration in this global health crisis. The traditional healthcare system of the Nation offers supporting lifestyle for immunity enhancement which aids in keeping away from different kinds of infectious ailments. In recently occurred Corona epidemic it has been noted that it mainly affects the Respiratory system. AYUSH Ministry issued “The Advisory” to enhance defensive mechanism of the body for prevention of disease and not declared it as a curative measure for the Corona virus disease. This review focuses on the efficacy of the measures recommended by AYUSH Ministry on the basis of literature and researches available on them.