Supreme Court while hearing a civil appeal modified Kerala high court’s order regarding the AYUSH ministry’s notification and observed that homeopathy medicine may be prescribed in cases of coronavirus to prevent or mitigate the effects of the disease however the court also noted that it cannot be claimed that it can cure covid-19.
Facts
The government issued a notification on 6/03/2020 which pointed out interventions of the AYUSH system as a response to the public health in the current scenario of the Covid-19 pandemic. The notification was issued by the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, and Homeopathy). The appellant was an admirer of the homeopathy system and claimed that homeopathic medicine was effective in controlling the spread of coronavirus. The appellant went to the Kerala high court seeking implementation of the AYUSH ministry’s notification which allowed homeopathic practitioners to act in the current pandemic situation. The Kerala high court held that the AYUSH practitioners cannot prescribe medicine to the covid patients for the treatment however they may prescribe immunity boosters and further added that AYUSH practitioners were not allowed to advertise or prescribe any medicine as a cure for coronavirus. As an AYUSH practitioner, the appellant felt aggrieved by the high court’s order and challenged the same through a civil appeal in the Apex court.
Appellant’s contentions
The appellant’s counsel argued that the high court’s decision was against the homeopathy practitioners and beyond the scope of the writ petition. The counsel further contended that the high court’s judgment only limited the AYUSH practitioners to prescribe immunity boosters, however, the government notification which was issued by the ministry of AYUSH allowed Homeopathy to be used as preventive, prophylactic, symptom management of COVID-19. The appellant side also submitted that such directions of high court confining the use of homeopathic methods for treating the covid patients was also demoralizing to the practitioners.
Submissions of AYUSH ministry
The learned solicitor general Mr.Tushar Mehta appearing for the ministry of AYUSH submitted that the notification was issued to strengthen the covid-19 medical response of the country. The learned solicitor general referring to the affidavit filed by the ministry of AYUSH added that homeopathy practitioners were permitted to prescribe medicine for prevention, symptom management, and conventional care in covid-19 cases.
Court’s Decision
The single-judge bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan observed that the ministry of AYUSH has permitted the use of Homeopathy medicine in multiple ways regarding the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. The court held that the high court has failed to comprehend the government notification correctly by confining the use of homeopathic medicine only as immunity boosters.
Regarding the high court’s direction prohibiting the advertisement of homeopathic medicine as a cure for the virus the court commented- “When statutory regulations itself prohibit advertisement, there is no occasion for Homeopathic medical practitioners to advertise that they are competent to cure COVID-19 disease. When the Scientists of the entire world are engaged in research to find out proper medicine/vaccine for COVID-19, there is no occasion for making any observation as contained in paragraph 14 (of the high court judgment) with regard to Homeopathic medical practitioners. The homeopathy does not cure the disease, but it cures the patients”.
The court held that the homeopathy practitioners may prescribe medicine to symptomatic and asymptomatic covid patients as per the AYUSH guidelines and that Kerala high court’s directions for taking action against the homeopathy practitioners cannot be approved.
However, in the matter of the claim of such medicines as cure of the virus, the court remarked “The High Court, however, is right in its observation that no medical practitioner can claim that it can cure COVID-19. There is no such claim in other therapy including allopathy. The High Court is right in observing that no claim for cure can be made in Homeopathy.” Thus the court ordering modifications in the high court’s judgment disposed of the appeal.
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