Doctors observe 'Black Day' to protest Ramdev's demeaning remarks on allopathy

New Delhi: After a series of derogatory remarks by Baba Ramdev against modern medicine and doctors, the medical fraternity across the country took a stand against the yoga guru and marked today as a 'black day'.

The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) lashed out at the yoga guru for demeaning allopathy doctors and their struggles through the pandemic flare after he made degrading remarks about them through a controversial video went viral, reports NDTV news.

FORDA told NDTV that Ramdev is no one but a layman who only did business during the pandemic.

In a viral video shared online last week, Ramdev said that lakhs of people have died because of allopathic medicines, far more than those who died because they did not get treatment or oxygen."

FORDA, among many doctors' associations, condemned Ramdev's remarks as "derogatory and insensitive" and demanded his unconditional open apology. It called for a nationwide protest against Ramdev and actions not taken against him even after objections arose.

The countries topmost body of doctors, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), also extended their support to the protesting bunch by wearing black badges at workplaces. It sent Ramdev a notice demanding an apology in 15 days, and if he fails, a compensation of 1000 crore will be demanded from him for defamation. IMA also urged PM Modi to take action against Ramdev under sedition charges for spearheading a misinformation campaign on Covid vaccination.

FORDA president Dr Manish told NDTV that doctors have been working day and night despite the danger they are in, and many had lost their lives at service. He said that his association is expecting 10,000more doctors to participate in the protest, and they will go to any extent, even to court, until some action is taken against Ramdev. He also added that their protest is not against Ayurveda but him.

Ramdev withdrew his statement after facing rampant backlash from many, including Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. He tweeted that he had received the minister's letter, and he is withdrawing his statement with regret to end the controversy over the conflict of treatments.

Ramdev's Patanjali group alleged that the video is edited and the controversial statement was out of context. The company said that Ramdev has no ill-will against science and good practitioners of modern medicine. Meanwhile, they added that they would legally give a "befitting reply" to the IMA's defamation notice.

However, Ramdev's another video surfaced on social media in which he challenged the calls for his arrest by saying, "even their baap (father) cannot arrest Swamy Ramdev," NDTV reports.