Shocking Baba Ramdev remark against COVID doctors viral; Urmila Matondkar dares Yoga Guru

After Patanjali co-founder Baba Ramdev sparked controversy with his comments on allopathy, a video of the yoga guru clearly insulting doctors has now gone viral raising several questions over his ill statements at a time when allopathic doctors, acting as the first line of defence against COVID, continue to battle the lethal second wave of the Coronavirus. In the video which has also been shared by Bollywood actor and Shiv Sena leader Urmila Matondkar, Baba Ramdev in one of his yoga seminars appears to be bizarrely questioning the efficiency of doctors and the COVID-19 vaccines in circulation. 

Sharing the video on Twitter, Mantondkar also used the platform to ridicule Baba Ramdev's ill-informed and insensitive statements, terming it as 'inhuman, enraging and disgusting'. 

In the undated and unverified video that has been doing rounds, Baba Ramdev can be heard saying, "1,000 doctors have died even after being inoculated with two doses of Corona vaccine. If they could not save themselves, what kind of doctors are they? Then I say, if you want to become a doctor, be one like Baba Ramdev, who has no degree but he is everyone's doctor. Without any degree, with divinity, I am a doctor."

Launching a scathing attack against Baba Ramdev, the Shiv Sena leader minced no words, as she called the yoga guru a 'businessman' and remarked that he should stand along with doctors and frontline workers in a COVID hospital for 24 hours before making such statements. 

It is important to note there is no scientific evidence to support the claims suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective. In fact, the COVID-19 vaccines in circulation, including COVAXIN and Covishield, are said to be effective against all strains of the Coronavirus that have mutated. Moreover, COVID-19 vaccines developed so far - advocated by nearly all major scientific bodies - and the data available has suggested that they help in developing an immune response against COVID infection and also help in reducing the fatality rate. On the other hand, Baba Ramdev has repeatedly drawn flak for Patanjali coming up with various products against COVID-19 and making tall claims about their potency without them being put under the kind of scrutiny from bodies like DCGI that vaccines and COVID treatments have to undergo.

Health Minister writes to Baba Ramdev 

On Sunday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had written to Baba Ramdev expressing a strong objection to his comments against allopathy and urged him to withdraw his statement. The Health Minister stated that Ramdev's comments have deeply hurt the sentiments of the people and might also affect the morale of COVID warriors battling the pandemic. In response, Baba Ramdev withdrew his statement; however, he pitted Ayurveda against allopathy in his letter while maintaining that he or his institution is not against allopathy. He further went on to say that the highlighting of the flaws in the allopathy system should in no way be considered as an attack on the system, and definitely not as an attack on science. 

A day after withdrawing his comment, Baba Ramdev on Monday, posed 25 questions to the All India Medical Association, in what appears to be an attempt to salvage his position. Taking to his official Twitter handle, the Patanjali co-founder and Yoga guru posed as many as 25 questions related to some of the most common diseases and asked for their solution and treatment in the allopathy and pharma industry, with some also pertaining to the COVID-19 infection. "To solve the issue between Ayurveda and Allopathy, does the pharma industry have any medicine?" reads one of the 25 questions.