A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court on Monday (May 24, 2021), seeking directions to the Union of India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and Niti Ayog concerning reconsideration of the present treatment protocol for mild Covid-19 cases and modification of treatment protocol in Covid-19 cases.
The plea states that experts have suggested against the use of Paracetamol, antibiotics, and steroids as increased use of these are destroying the immune system of the Covid-19 infected individual and consequently leading to the deterioration of a covid case from mild to moderate to severe.
The petition points out that no clinical trial has been conducted to scrutinize the efficacy and safety of antipyretics which is being used in the treatment and management of Covid-19. The clinical trials conducted in animals and the medical literature advise against the use of it. The petition requests the Court to direct ICMR to examine and hold clinical trials and to change the treatment protocols, if necessary.
The Niramaya Research has devised a new theory that suggests that the use of medications being prescribed has immunomodulatory effects which impact and damage the immune system of the individual. It leads to complications as were seen in a majority of Covid-19 mortalities.
Despite knowing the life-threatening consequences of prescribing tampered medication which is against the rule of ICMR, doctors are continuing to prescribe steroids and antibiotics to mild Covid-19 patients. The plea appeals to the ICMR to issue recommendations against the use of unnecessary medications.
The plea further states that the treatment protocol for Covid-19 as suggested by ICMR is in absolute contrast to the protocol suggested by top medical journals.
The Public Interest Litigation was filed by Vivek Sheel Agarwal, the Chairman of Niramaya Research, along with Dr. Sanjay Jain, Dr. Anu Garg, and Bhavsagar Aggarwal filed through advocates Praveen K Sharma and Amitesh Bakshi was scheduled to come up for hearing on May 25, 2021.
When the matter came up for consideration, the Delhi High Court dismissed the Public Interest Litigation, and showed displeasure with the petitioner, and said that the respondents have enough experts to take decisions regarding protocol. A fine of Rs.25000 was imposed on the petitioner.
A bench of Justice D. N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh stated that the prescribed medicines and protocols are decided based on experiments and verified data and cannot be altered at the request of the petitioner.
” It ought to be kept in mind that COVID-19 treatment protocol for the country is not fixed on an ipse dixit (unproven statement). It is fixed on the basis of a variety of experiments, tests, and discussions by experts” the bench said.
The Bench regarded this petition as a ‘Publicity’ Interest Litigation rather than a Public Interest Litigation and stated that the Court would not direct the ICMR and Niti Ayog to consider the recommendations made by the petitioner.
