THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Health Minister has made it clear that she would not force or persuade anyone to do anything unscientific. She has come out with this statement after her pro-homoeopathy stand on Sunday triggered a controversy.

“I had just asked health workers to give medicines to boost immunity if it is available. What is going to come are days when we will see wide spread of the disease.

I have got the responsibility to look after the affairs of the Alopathy and Ayush department.

I’m not game to say whether the study by the homoeopathy department is right or wrong. We can say whether a medicine is useful only if experiments are done on it and proved. We have depended only on the Alopathy wing for treating Covid.

Health workers from various branches of medicines should not fight among themselves. The need of the hour is to render a combined method of treatment including all medicine systems,” she said.

The IMA had strongly criticised the minister for her statement, which was based on the study conducted by Dr Bijukumar D, an award-winning filmmaker and district medical officer for the department of homeopathy in Pathanamthitta.

The association had said that the minister should not spread unscientific things or degrade health workers.

Minister Shailaja had, on Sunday, said that “only few people who took immunity medicine in homeopathy had contracted Covid-19 and even those affected were cured in three to four days”.