The Resident Doctors Association, AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) Delhi on Monday declared that they will observe June 1 as Black Day "condemning the derogatory and disgraceful statements made by Mr. Ram Kisan Yadav (yoga guru Ramdev)".
The RDA said that "amidst the second wave of COVID-19, our fraternity of Corona Warriors has been striving hard to save our dearest motherland against the deadly pandemic. Despite the solemn pride of selflessly working out our abilities and even gloriously making supreme sacrifices; a new insensitive and insulting controversy by Mr. Ram Kisan Yadav alias Ramdev 'Baba' has been brought in the spotlight challenging and questioning the modern system of evidence-based medicine and making the joint efforts made by us all fighting the pandemic seem utterly naive and futile".
Ramdev's "slanderous remarks" will incite violence against the healthcare services personnel and would lead to total failure of public health systems, the RDA said in the letter. They have also demanded strict action against the yoga guru and to book him under the sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
"We also request competent authorities to take stringent action against Mr. Ram Kisan Yadav and to book him under relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 for trying to create public unrest against the vaccination drive, harassing healthcare services personnel and preventing them from discharging their duties and creating misconceptions in common public which could cost them their dear lives," the letter further read.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) India has also said that they will hold a nationwide black day protest on June 1st "without hampering the patient care to voice their protest against the statements of yoga guru Ramdev against Corona warriors and modern medicine." FORDA also demanded an unconditional open public apology or action against him under the Epidemic Diseases Act.
What is the controversy?
A controversy had erupted after Ramdev was heard questioning some of the medicines being used to treat the coronavirus infection and saying that "lakhs have died from taking allopathic medicines for COVID-19".
The remarks were met with vociferous protests, following which Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked the yoga guru to withdraw the "extremely unfortunate" statement.
Later, Ramdev complied, however, he posed 25 questions to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in an 'open letter' on his Twitter handle, asking if allopathy offered permanent relief for ailments such as hypertension and diabetes.
