HYDERABAD: A so-called herbal miracle cure with traditional ingredients for COVID-19 is attracting thousands of people to Krishnapatnam a small port town in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.

There are hundreds of claims of miracle cure by the wonder medicine which is being called the Krishnapatnam medicine or Krishnapatnam tonic formulated and made by an ayurvedic doctor Bonigi Anandaiah (who claims to be self-made) and he has grabbed the attention of not only the state government, even the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, has taken notice of the issue. 

Anandaiah claims that all the household herbal ingredients he is using are naturally grown and used by Ayurveda for centuries, apart from some locally available leaves that he uses as the main ingredient he uses honey, pepper, green camphor, nutmeg (Jajikaya), black cumin, and cinnamon to produce the medicine. 

He does not charge anything for his medicine and claims to have distributed it to over 50,000 COVID-19 patients who he says have successfully recovered from the deadly infection. Matter of fact some people assisting him said that dozens of villages in the district are free from COVID-19 due to Anandaiah's medicine. 

As the news of the miracle cure spread widely on television news channels and social media, thousands of people made a beeline to the small village, creating a stampede like situation. People thronging the village did not follow social distancing,  many were not wearing masks, forcing the local administration to step in and manage and control the heavy crowds. 

The worrying part according to officials is even severely serious people, many with very low oxygen count have been thronging the village, some are very sick and lying down on open grounds although no fatality has been formally reported from the site. 

On Friday, the Nellore district Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said the distribution of herbal preparations would not be allowed unless it is given a go-ahead by the administration on the efficacy, however, the MLA from Sarvepalli Kakani Govardhan Reddy is actively promoting the medicine and he announced the re-start of its distribution.

The administration is particularly worried about crowds turning up on weekends and the collector has ordered a contingent of policemen to be present at the venue to control crowds.

Sources in the government say, chief minster Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy is not too happy with the wide publicity for the so-called miracle cure, and he has ordered the administration to immediately send the medicine, to the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) for a detailed study of its efficacy. 

Vice President Naidu who hails from Nellore district, has also asked Union Minister for Ayush, Kiren Rijiju and the ICMR Director Balram Bhargava to conduct a study on the medicine, and submit a report as soon as possible.