The Tamil Nadu government’s Siddha-based treatment centre at the Dr Ambedkar Government Arts and Science college in Chennai’s Vyasarpadi has discharged the 66 patients treated for COVID-19, according to officials. A combination of Kabasura Kudineer, Adathodi Manapagu and Amukkara Choornam is given to patients to treat symptoms and boost immunity, according to officials. The centre treats only asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms, and is not to be seen as an alternative to allopathic treatment in severe cases doctors said.
Dr Sivakumar, coordinator for the Siddha Covid Care centre at the Dr Ambedkar Arts and Science College, explained that treatment given at the government care centre is merely for the symptoms and not for the disease itself.
"There is no vaccine or anit-viral discovered for COVID-19 yet. Siddha treatment is a tested method of cure for mild symptoms and shouldn't be confused as a cure for the virus," he said.
"Siddha treatment essentially involves using herbal concoctions, all made of immunity boosting natural material to treat the virus," said Dr Sivakumar. "The patients that we currently take in are only asymptomatic or patients with very mild symptoms. They first go to Stanley Medical college and based on initial prognosis there, they are given an option regarding the centre they would like to be admitted. Those who request Siddha treatment are sent to our centre," he added.
Officials from the Chennai corporation and allopathic doctors and nurses from the Stanley Medical College and Hospital are posted for any additional support or emergencies.
“There have been cases, especially in patients over 70, where their symptoms have become severe – be it wheezing, low oxygen levels or becoming bedridden. In such cases, the doctors are alerted and they are referred back to the Stanley medical college and hospital for treatment,” Dr Sivakumar said.
The COVID care centre can accommodate 224 patients.
Fifty-three-year-old Damodharan, a resident of Chennai went to the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital after he tested positive for coronavirus, requested that he be admitted to the newly opened Siddha-based treatment centre at the Dr Ambedkar Government Arts and Science college in Vyasarpadi. On July 6, Damodharan was amongst the first batch of 10 COVID-19 patients who were discharged.
"I was the first patient to even enter the centre," Damodharan told TNM. "The first two nights there, I had a bad cough. In fact the new patients who came changed rooms because my coughing kept them up at night. But with the help of the Siddha medicines, I was fine by the third day. And after that I was merely under observation for another week," he added.
As of Sunday, the centre has discharged 66 persons after their symptoms were treated, following which they have been told to be on home quarantine for 14 days. A total of 200 patients have been admitted here so far. And while the initial cut off age was 60 for those being admitted to the Siddha centre, patients upto 75 are being admitted if the government hospitals see them as low-risk and fit for Siddha treatment.
News of recovery of these patients comes at a time when the Madras High Court has come down on the Tamil Nadu government for not considering or verifying claims of cure available for COVID-19 in Siddha medicines. The court directed the state government to file a report by July 23 as to the number of such cures forwarded to the government and action taken on them.