Judgement of the High Court of Kerala regarding Homoeopathic practitioners treating Covid-19 patients, 02/06/2021
Judgement of the High Court of Kerala in the matter of Dr. Jayaprasad Karunakaran Vs Ministry of Ayush & Others dated 02/06/2021. The matter related to Homoeopathic practitioners treating Covid-19 patients.
The petitioner (Dr. Jayaprasad Karunakaran), a homoeopathic practitioner in Thiruvananthapuram was informed by the officials of the State Health Department that action would be taken against him under the Disaster Management Act, if he treated Covid-19 patients.
P. Vijayakumar, the Assistant Solicitor General of India representing the Union of India, submitted that the Government of India, Ministry of AYUSH has issued Ext.P2 recommendations advising utilisation of Homoeopathy for preventive and prophylactic purposes, for symptom management of Covid-19 like illnesses and for add on intervention to conventional care. There is no prohibition imposed by the Government of India on Homoeopathy for treatment of patients to the extent indicated in Ext.P2 recommendations.
The counsel representing the state of Kerala submitted that the Government of Kerala had formed an expert committee for chartering the protocols for treatment for the management of Covid-19. The Government has approved the action plan of the Homoeo department for giving Homoeo medicines as prophylactic. However the target population was not intended to include Covid-19 patients or their contacts or those people under quarantine.
The court said that Homoeopathic practitioners should not make any claims regarding effectiveness of particular medicines in curing Covid-19 and that the issue in the writ petition concerned the extent to which the practitioners in Homoeopathic medicine can treat Covid-19 patients and prescribing homoeopathic medicines.
The Kerala High Court in its judgement, June 2, 2021 directed that qualified Homoeopathic physicians can prescribe and dispense preventive and prophylactic homoeo medicines, for preventing Covid-19 and that they can resort to Homoeopathy for symptom management of Covid-19 like illnesses. Homoeopathic practitioners could provide add on interventions to the conventional cases of Covid-19 and prescribe drugs as per the Guidelines issued by the Ministry of AYUSH but the "suggested medicines should be as adjuvant to Standard Management Guidelines in the hospital setting only with the approval of authorities and willingness of the patient/guardian," the Kerala High Court order read.