Hyderabad: Yoga guru and CEO of Patanjali, Baba Ramdev landed himself in yet another controversy after mocking COVID-19 patients who have died of oxygen shortage. Ramdev, who is known to promote unscientific claims and ideas, said that people whose oxygen levels are dropping can restore it in their lungs through Yoga!
Not surprisingly, his words have angered many citizens, who took to Twitter and lashed out against him. At a time when hundreds if not thousands of people are dying due to lack of oxygen in hospitals and poor healthcare infrastructure, Baba Ramdev’s comments during a yoga session has invited the anger and wrath of citizens. Many trolled him for his insensitive statements.
“God has given Oxygen for free, take it!” Baba Ramdev said in a video that was posted on Twitter a day earlier on Saturday. In the video, he goes on to say that the whole universe is “filled with oxygen”. “You just have to take it,” he adds.
Mocking people who are crying out for oxygen cylinders, Ramdev, pointing towards his nose, call them “two cylinders,” and calls his legs “two doctors,”. In a similar fashion, pointing towards his arms, he calls them “two nurses”, essentially asking people to utilise their bodies to generate oxygen. The bizarre claims absolutely make no sense.
In the video, Baba Ramdev goes on to claim that people whose oxygen levels dropped to 70-80%, he was able to restore it back to 98% and 100% through one hour of Yoga. Netizens however lashed out at him.
One netizen, Kartik, tweeted “(So-called Baba) Ramdev mocking and laughing at people’s suffering and mad scramble for ICUs/oxygen. He has the temerity to mock people’s desperate situation because he has the backing of the BJP. These are the kind of vile humans we have voted for.”
Moreover, it may also be recalled that Ramdev’s Patanjali had also falsely advertised a medicine (tablet) – Coronil – as a treatment for COVID-19. It was debunked, after reports emerged that it was not not certified by the World Health Organisation, and after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) also called it unscientific. However, Coronil is being allowed to be sold as medicine to cure fever.
Similarly, a doctor Nandita Iyer tweeted “Yoga and pranayam ARE NOT useful in case of an emergency- if the Sp02 levels fall below 80, you should be in an ICU, not doing pranayama. A delay in getting medical help could lead to serious consequences. Pl trust your doctor’s advice only.”
