Explained: All you need to know about IMA and what is its row with Ramdev all about

Yoga Guru Ramdev and Indian Medical Association (IMA) have been embroiled in a war of words over last few days with regard the efficacy of allopathic or modern medicine.

In the latest development, IMA on May 27 sought an FIR against Ramdev over his comments on modern medicine in a police complaint against him in Delhi. Earlier, Ramdev was heard in a widely-circulated video daring the authorities to arrest him a day after IMA threatened him with a Rs 1,000 crore defamation case.

Here is all you need to know about IMA and its row with Ramdev:

The row started with a video released last week in which Ramdev was purportedly heard calling allopathy a ‘stupid science’ and alleging that thousands of doctors had died despite taking the vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infection.

“Allopathy is a stupid and bankrupt science. First Chloroquine failed, then Remdesivir failed, then their antibiotics failed, then steroids, now a ban has been imposed on plasma therapy. Now they are prescribing Fabiflu which too has failed,” Ramdev was heard saying in the video.

The comments didn’t go well with IMA – a pan India voluntary organisation of doctors. “He (Ramdev) has belittled the sacrifice of more than 1,200 doctors who have laid down their lives in the line of duty serving mankind during the pandemic,” said a statement released by the IMA on May 24. Ramdev later retracted the comments following the IMA and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan’s objections.

On May 24, Ramdev again took a swipe at allopathy, asking if modern medicine has the cure for a number of diseases he listed in an open letter listing 25 questions. On May 26, IMA wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to book the Yoga guru under sedition laws for questioning the efficacy of allopathic medicines and vaccines against COVID-19 disease.

The IMA Uttarakhand chapter sought an apology from the Yoga guru failing which he would face a Rs 1,000 crore defamation case. A video, which surfaced on social media on May 26, has Ramdev purportedly challenging the authorities to arrest him.

Indian Medical Association (IMA), according to its website,  is the only representative voluntary organization of doctors of modern scientific system of medicine, which looks after the interest of doctors as well as the wellbeing of the community at large.

With over 3,30,000 members across 1,750 branches in 34 states and union territories, IMA is the largest association of physicians and medical students of the country. The national headquarter of the IMA is situated at New Delhi.

IMA also includes Indian Medical Association – Junior Doctors Network which is an official wing for junior doctors. On October 5, 2013, Indian Medical Students' Association, representing 50,000 medical college students, was inducted as official students’ wing of IMA.

The association came to being as All India Medical Association in 1928 during the 5th All India Medical Conference at Calcutta (Now Kolkata) and was renamed Indian Medical Association in 1930. It is a society registered under The Societies Act of India. The association has primarily three objectives – promotion and advancement of medical and allied sciences in all their different branches, improvement of public health and medical education in the country and the maintenance of honour and dignity of medical profession.

IMA’s policy decisions are vested in its Central Council to which local branches report. It delegates its powers to a Working Committee, a representative body of branches, for implementation of programmes and activities. Surgeon Dr JA Jayalal is the current national president of the IMA. Dr Jayalal is an associate professor of surgery at Tirunelveli Medical College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.

Earlier in February, IMA had objected to Ramdev's company Patanjali's claims that Coronil was the first evidence-based medicine for the coronavirus. It had asked Vardhan whether the release of the "falsely fabricated unscientific product" was justified.

Patanjali, on February 19, had said that Coronil had received certification from Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) from the Ayush section of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation as per the WHO scheme.

But, later had received certification from Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) statement saying that the WHO had not certified Coronil as a medicine for COVID-19.