Coronavirus cure: Tamil Nadu doctor from Rathna Siddha Hospital claims to have invented medicine

Chennai, January 28: A doctor from Tamil Nadu's Rathna Siddha Hospital in Chennai has claimed to have formulated a herbal medicine that can cure novel Coronavirus, as China continued to reel under deadly coronavirus epidemic and has no effective vaccine or drug to treat it.

Dr Thanikasalam Veni who has 25-year of vast experience in field Siddha and Ayurvedic medicines said, "We have formulated a medicine from an extract of herbs. It is very effective to cure any type of viral fever. Coronavirus has no medicine.''

In China's Wuhan where Coronavirus has claimed over 50 lives, experts have no idea how to cure the disease. Our herbal extract medicine is used to treat dengue, multi-organ fever and acute liver fever."

"We want to tell the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Chinese government that our medicine is very effective in treating multi-organ failure in corona fever condition," he said.

The Siddha doctor also claimed that the medicine formulated by him along with his team treats infections caused by the virus within 24 hours to 40 hours.

"When we treated the dengue virus with our medicine, many patients with reduced platelets count, acute liver failure, immunity deficiency and low white blood cell (WBC) were cured within 24-40 hours," said Veni.

"In coronavirus too I am confident our medicine will be very effective," he added.

The doctor said he is willing to help the state and the central government as well as China if required.

"If the Centre and state government require then I am ready with medicine. Also, if China wants my contribution I am ready to fly immediately to Wuhan with my medicine which can cure Coronavirus," he said.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said that the state is "well prepared and is taking all precautionary and preventive steps" to tackle any possible infections.

More than 50 million people across China have been put under partial or complete lockdown as the country's government steps up its response.

Meanwhile, a confirmed coronavirus case is yet to be discovered in India but a series of similar hospitalisations in four cities - Kolkata, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Patna - as well as the death of a Thai national in West Bengal's capital on Monday, raised fears of the pathogen having arrived on Indian soil.

Coronaviruses (nCoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.