Desperate Mumbai turns untested drug

As India’s financial capital reels from the Covid-19 pandemic, panic-stricken people are turning to a homeopathy drug called Arsenicum Album 30 although there is no data that it works

In recent days Mumbai local corporators have taken the lead to organize medicine distribution functions, handing out little vials of Arsenicum Album 30. (AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)

Arsenicum Album has been recommended by the Union Ministry of AYUSH as a prophylactic for COVID-19. It is given for a broad spectrum of respiratory illnesses, but there is no evidence that it has any preventive effect on Covid-19. (AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)

Demand for the drug has skyrocketed. One woman said her entire family is on it, taking the dosage recommended by AYUSH M (AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)inistry: once on an empty stomach for three days, to be repeated every month till the Covid-19 virus is a threat. (AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)

The drug contains arsenic trioxide, a highly toxic substance, which is diluted greatly to make Arsenic Album 30.(AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)

Homeopath doctor couple Prabodh and Netra Gaikwad of Mumbai decided to distribute this medicine for free as a social service. (AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)

So far they have distributed this medicine to fifty thousand people. In this picture, here they are seen distributing Aresnicum Album 30 to residents of a society in Sion in Mumbai.(AA Photo Rajesh Jadhav)