New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that AYUSH doctors cannot prescribe or advertise government-approved tablets or mixtures as a 'cure' for COVID-19.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, however, said that qualified AYUSG doctors can prescribe them as immunity boosters for COVID-19 patients, as per the directions in the March 6 order of the Ministry.
The Supreme Court also said that Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and naturopathy can be used to boost immunity to cut the risk of COVID-19.
According to Bar and Bench, the order of the apex court was passed on an appeal filed by the Dr AKB Sadbhavana Mission School of Homeo Pharmacy against the August 21 decision of the Kerala High Court.
The Kerala High Court order had asked the state government to use alternative medicine only as an immunity booster. It had ordered that alternative medicine such as homoeopathy, Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and naturopathy be used to enhance immunity to resist the disease.
The High Court order had prohibited AYUSH doctors from advertising or prescribing medicines as a cure for COVID-19, except those specifically mentioned in the Centre's advisory on March 6, 2020.
An appeal was filed in the top court by Dr AKB Sadbhavana Mission School of Homeo Pharmacy against the Kerala High Court order.
This comes as the total number of COVID-19 cases in India reached 99,06,165 with 22,065 new cases and 254 new death, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said earlier today. So far, a total number of 1,43,709 people have died due to the virus.
Meanwhile, the number of cases per million population in India continues to be amongst the lowest in the world.
The number of COVID-19 cases in India is at 7,178 per million population, whereas the global average for the same is at 9,000.
(With inputs from ANI)
