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The Rediff Special/Syed Firdaus Ashraf

Ayurveda versus Allopathy: The controversy rages on

Can an Ayurvedic preparation cure AIDS?

No.

At least, that is the answer you get if you ask Kerala’s drug controller. Or the Indian Council of Medical Research. Or the Indian Health Organisation.

A week ago, The Advertising Standards Council of India, acting on a complaint by the last named body, issued a notice to Majeed that he could not publish advertisements for his medicine anywhere in the country, unless his claims are first proved medically.

"Majeed’s medicine is a hoax," says Dr I S Gilada, secretary general of the Indian Health Organisation. "His ‘Immuno QR’ has not gone through any scientific trial, and the claim of his success has not been published in any leading scientific journals. He is cheating ignorant people by publishing ads in newspapers that he can cure aids. But the fact is that he has not cured a single AIDS patient till this day."

Meanwhile, on an average, 60 people queue up outside Majeed's clinic each day, for a dose of the 'wonder drug'.

And several of them come back, to testify that their HIV positive status has, following the doses of Majeed's drug, changed to HIV negative.

"There are two types of testing for HIV(+) patients," says Dr Gilada. "Firstly, there is the P-24 antigen test, and then there is a more sensitive and advanced test called the DNA Polymer Chain Reaction. If Majeed's patients take the PCR test, they will be found to be still HIV(+).

"The P-24 antigen test," Dr Gilada elaborates, "is misleading because the P-24 antigen is undetectable just after sero-conversion. In this test, the virus is detectable only after the patient becomes a full blown AIDS victim. And moreover, in the P-24 antigen test, sometimes, even a patient who has tested positive one day turns out to be negative the next. It is not a very reliable test," he maintains.

A Pune hospital, which tested three of Majeed's patients who had claimed they were cured of AIDS, found them to be HIV (+)

So why doesn't established medicine's hierarchy stop Majeed practising?

Simple. Under the Constitution, there is no law to prevent the sale or intake of herbal medicines. And even the Food and Drug Administration is powerless to act.

"The only way Majeed can get into trouble is if any of his patients sue him" says Dr Gilada. "But in a country where AIDS is not just a disease but also a social stigma, who will come out and admit to being a carrier?"

Majeed has challenged sceptics to inject him with the AIDS virus, claiming that he will cure himself. Says Dr Jerajani, a specialist who flat out stated that two of his patients died after taking Majeed's medicine: "Even here, he was proved wrong. Last year he had come to Bombay, and made the same challenge at a press conference. But when someone went to him and offered to inject him with HIV (+) blood, he ran away!"

"It is below my dignity to talk about Majeed," says Dr J K Maniar, consultant in dermato-venerology & HIV medicine, and convener of the Society for Prevention of AIDS, "Nearly 2,000 patients have died after taking Majeed’s medicines. I am shocked that in spite of this, no action has been taken against him."

"If Majeed is so confident of his medicine, why doesn't he try for the Nobel Prize? After all, the whole world is looking for a cure for AIDS, why is he restricting himself to advertisements in the vernacular press and keeping his medicine just for the illiterate section of society?" is Dr Gilada's sign-off argument.

The Rediff Special

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