COLOMBO – In a show of support for the ‘Hela’ medicine man, Dhammika Bandara, and his divine inspired concoction said to cure COVID-19 infection, ruling party members gulped down spoons full of the concoction that was distributed in Parliament on Thursday (10).
Among those imbibing the miracle cure were Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and several Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Members of Parliament. Earlier, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and several other ministers sampled the concoction, which Bandara, a carpenter by profession, claimed, had been tested and proved as a cure and preventive medicine for the novel coronavirus.
Thousands of people flocked to a small village in central Sri Lanka earlier in the week, disregarding health guidelines, in an attempt to obtain free samples of the concoction, referred to as ‘syrup’, distributed by Bandara. However, health authorities have not recognized the syrup and the association of Ayurvedic doctors has deemed the concoction to have been produced ‘illegally’ and have said doctors of indigenous medicine should not be held accountable if the drug has an adverse effect on the public.
Sri Lanka has been experiencing a surge in cases since October, with the number of infections increased more than eight-fold since then to over 31,000 and 147 dead.
Carpenter Bandara claimed on national television last week that a so-called cure had been revealed to him by a god. But doctors have said there is no scientific basis for the syrup. There is no known cure for COVID-19.
Photographs of Health Minister Wanniarachchi published in local newspapers drinking the concoction helped spread Bandara’s claim.
-ENCL