AYUSH 64: Ayurvedic hope for mild-moderate Covid patients
AYUSH 64, a herbal medicine that was first developed in 1980 to cure Malaria, has now been found to be useful in the treatment of asymptomatic, mild and moderate Covid-19 infection along with standard care.
FollowEven as the Covid-19 situation in the country remains grim, Ayurveda has now emerged as a shot in the arm for patients suffering from a mild and moderate infection.
AYUSH 64, a herbal medicine that was first developed in 1980 to cure Malaria, has now been found to be useful in the treatment of asymptomatic, mild and moderate Covid-19 infection along with standard care.
In a statement, the AYUSH ministry said that extensive studies had found AYUSH 64 to be a safe and effective ayurvedic formulation.
The ministry also claimed that the medicine had been recommended in the National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga which is vetted by ICMR's National Task Force on COVID-19 Management.
AYUSH 64 is made using a formulation of Picrorhiza kurroa (aqueous rhizome extract), Alstonia scholaris (aqueous bark extract), Swertia chirata (aqueous extract of the whole plant) and Caesalpinia crista (fine-powdered seed pulp).
The ministry informed that it had conducted trials on 70 volunteers at KGMU (Lucknow), DMIMS (Wardha) and the BMC COVID Centre (Mumbai) and found that those who took AYUSH 64 showed significant improvement and lesser period of hospitalization as compared to those on standard care alone.
However, experts say that patients on AYUSH 64 will still need to be monitoring so as to identify any worsening of disease requiring more intensive therapy with oxygen and other treatment measures provided during hospitalization.
