Tibetan college barred from selling pill as coronavirus cure

Tribune News Service

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Dharamsala, February 20

The state health authorities have issued a directive to the headquarters of the Tibetan Traditional Medical Institute (Men Tsee Khang) to stop promoting a pill that is claimed to have medicinal properties to cure contagious diseases, including the coronavirus.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Gurdarshan Gupta said, “We have issued a directive so that there is no misconception among the masses.”

The health department authorities have issued the directions citing reports of public distribution of pills by Tibetan medical practitioners that claimed to cure coronavirus. The reports had created demand from public for the pill, the health department authorities said. The pill is known as rimsung rilbu.

The sources here said the Tibetan institute was going to halt the sale of the pill in the market. It was learnt that the CMO had visited the Mcleodganj branch of the Tibetan institute this week. The CMO also notified the authorities that non-compliance to the directive may result in heavy penalty and even closure of the clinic.

Institute director Tashi Tsering Phuri in a statement to Tibetan portals said a public notice was issued in this regard to the practitioners.

He said the institute had not advertised or made claims regarding the pill as it was formulated from ancient texts and had been around for centuries.

As per information, the pill was not for oral consumption and was to be administered only through smell. It was said that the institute had produced over one lakh pills since January.