The five corona-specific ayurvedic medicines developed by the Ayurvedic wing of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) are all set to get licenses by December 2020. For this, the temple management got a word of appreciation from none other than the union Department of AYUSH (Ayurveda Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH).
Immediately after the outbreak of COVID-19, TTD’s Joint Executive Officer P. Basant Kumar gave the go-ahead to the Ayurvedic Pharmacy to prepare medicines that can specifically handle such pandemics. It may be recalled that during the lockdown period, the Sri Venkateswara Ayurvedic College brought out five medicines including dhoop sticks, disinfectant to kill bacteria, nasal drops, gargling liquid and hand-washing sanitisers, all using native herbs. The surveys and opinion polls conducted by the officers and researchers on the effectiveness of the medicines yielded encouraging feedback from the TTD employees and canteen workers, who formed the major sample size.
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Buoyed by the response, the administrators are keen on user-friendly and aesthetic solutions by adding more effective ayurvedic herbs. Research is currently on to make available the disinfectant vapour in the form of candles and make the sanitisers free of alcohol. Similarly, the nasal drops and strong antibiotic medicine ‘Amruta’ will be made more vibrant.
Now that the process of licensing for these five formulations has been set in motion, their mass production is expected to start by December. According to the Pharmacy’s technical in-charge Narappa Reddy, the medicines will be distributed along with a hand bill containing instructions on usage. The pharmacy has now embarked on taking up new formulations.