Covid patients are being 'treated' with cow urine, dung in India's most populous state

NEW DELHI – In a country where millions are getting infected in a week time and the total cases have surpassed 22 million already, a Covid care center has been formed inside a 'gaushala' – protective shelters for cows – to 'treat' Covid positive patients using cow urine and dung beside organic dairy products.

In India, medical facilities are overwhelmed with Covid patients, families of the sick scrambling to find supplies of oxygen, and crematoriums are running past full capacity to handle the dead bodies. But the Hindu-led government in Gujarat state has earned the distinction of running a 40-bed hospital that has 5,000 cows which provide unlimited urine and dung with which patients are being treated while chanting different mantras.

The director of the centre told an Indian news outlet that they are using ‘Panchgavya ayurvedic therapy’ to "treat critical patients".

The organisers have also introduced a special ‘Panch Gavya kit’ besides having some stock of Oxygen cylinders to cope with the emergency.

Patients who contracted the deadly virus in the bizarre setup are also treated by inhaling steam from a concoction of cow urine, dung and ghee. Some of the patients are also covered by a layer of cow dung to get recovered from the novel virus.

Things that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is doing today
-A ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new covid hospital complete with plenty of saffron balloons
-Equipping every cow shed with oximeters and thermal scanners for the cows
UP: 25,858 new cases ystdayhttps://t.co/6UMGxmKO5U pic.twitter.com/4vxio9uRIL

— Hannah Ellis-Petersen (@HannahEP) May 5, 2021

Collective prayers are also done at the center while patients, whose oxygen saturation level falls, are admitted on a priority basis at the Covid center. Ayurvedic doctor, five nurses and a general physician monitors the condition of the patients in the center.

The chief minister of Indian state UP, Yogi Adityanath, a hardline Hindu politician of the ruling Bharatia Janata Party (BJP), announced to set up help desks to protect cows in the wake of the Covid pandemic crisis.

As the South Asian country facing a catastrophic surge in Covid cases and its hospitals enduring a shortage of facilities, many were shocked after Yogi announced the establishment of 700 help desks for the welfare of cows.

India holds first ‘cow science’ exam next ... 06:43 PM | 9 Jan, 2021

NEW DELHI – India is set to hold a nationwide ‘cow science’ exam next month to promote the ...

However, the Hindu monk-cum-politician plans to equip the center of cow welfare with 51 oximeters and 341 thermal scanners in order to ensure better animal care and testing.

India, battling the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus witnessed 366,161 new infections in the previous 24 hours, according to the country's health ministry dashboard. The new cases took the active caseload of the country to over 3.74 million (3,745,237) and death toll to 246,116.

The continued surge in infections led several state governments to extend their lockdown-like measures to break the chain of transmission. Delhi and Uttar Pradesh extended the lockdown till May 17 with stricter measures.