Ayurveda Medicines led to weight gain, Urtecaria in athelete: Father complains to Board

Bengaluru: Alleging that his daughter has put on 6 kg in a month and is suffering urticaria, a skin allergy, because of the medications prescribed by an Ayurveda practitioner, the father of a 15-year-old Rajajinagar athlete has moved to the Karnataka Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners’ Board appealing to take necessary action.

 “My daughter’s paediatrician suspected the presence of steroids in the ayurvedic medicine given to her. The tests conducted in an Ayush-accredited lab in Bengaluru tested positive for steroids. This is a violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940,” claimed Nilesh Prabhu, the athlete’s father.

He alleged that his daughter could have landed in unsavoury situations if she had participated in any athletic event when she was on medication and was tested for steroids.

While complaining about the medication, Times of India reports that Prabhu first moved to the state’s Drugs Control Department against the Ayurveda practitioner, Dr Giridhar Kaje, who runs Prashanthi Ayurvedic Centre. The department then conducted another round of tests that tested negative for the presence of steroids prednisolone and methylprednisolone.

Doubting the tests, Prabhu then appealed to the Union ministry of AYUSH, which wrote to the Registrar, Dr Amberker Vinayak Subhash of Karnataka Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners’ Board.

During the hearing, the registrar asked Dr Kaje if there were any chances of a person suddenly gaining weight after taking his medicine to which he submitted that the allegations surfaced against him are totally baseless and it is impossible that synthetic steroids were present in the drugs prepared and prescribed by him.

As per TOI’s report, Dr Kaje told the board, “The reports of the drug control department were negative. Prior to that, I got the medicine checked at another high-tech lab in Bengaluru, where to the results were negative. I got the drugs tested again at the lab which the complainant had approached, and the findings were positive. When I spoke to the lab staff, I was told that the test could be positive for drugs that have natural steroids derived from plants, and the report doesn’t mention whether the steroids are natural or synthetic. Sariva, a herb used in the medicine which is a blood purifier, contains natural steroids. There are no synthetic steroids in the medicines I have prescribed throughout my career.”

The board observed that certain links were missing as four samples were tested. The Registrar told TOI, “We don’t know whether the drugs administered to the complainant’s daughter were tested or not, as they were sold in loose pouches with no batch numbers and manufacturing date mentioned on them,”

Meanwhile, after viewing the submission made by Dr Kaje, the Registrar stated that the board will write to the private lab where the samples tested positive for steroids.

“We will seek information on what types of steroids were present in the tablets, whether they were natural or synthetic steroids and the method of testing. The drugs control department has said in its report that the test was negative for two specific kinds of steroids only,” the Registrar affirmed.

The next hearing for the matter has been scheduled for June 27.