Summing up Covid-time health minister Harsh Vardhan’s work

The Union health minister’s political career will be remembered for steering the country during Covid-19, allaying fears but also generating criticism

At 1.20 pm on March 3, Harsh Vardhan put out a post on the micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter) to announce his retirement from active politics. The 69-year old whose political career spanned over 30 years, will be remembered most as the Union minister of health and family welfare during the first crucial year of the Covid pandemic. During that time, Vardhan also held the portfolios of science and technology and earth sciences in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government between May 30, 2019 and July 7, 2021.

Many speculated that Vardhan’s retirement had to do with the fact that the BJP, which released the first list of Lok Sabha candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections the previous day, did not include him. (HT Archive)

Many speculated that Vardhan’s retirement had to do with the fact that the BJP, which released the first list of Lok Sabha candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections the previous day, did not include him. His social media post also alluded to his politically — and electorally — successful career.

“After over thirty years of a glorious electoral career, during which I won all the five assemblies and two parliamentary elections that I fought with exemplary margins, and held a multitude of prestigious positions in the party organisation and the governments at the state and Centre I finally bow out to return to my roots,” he wrote.

“I had the rare opportunity to be able to first work towards creating a polio-free Bharat and then to take care of the health of millions of our countrymen grappling with the dreaded Covid-19 during its first and second phases,” Vardhan, an otorhinolaryngologist wrote, adding that he planned to return to his ENT clinic in East Delhi’s Krishna Nagar.

To be sure, Vardhan was also in charge of the health department (besides law and education) during his tenure as a legislator in the Delhi assembly in the 1990s and 2000s, and bureaucrats with the Central government remember his time in Nirman Bhawan with fondness.

A former official of the health ministry, requesting anonymity, talked about his persistence that helped things fall into place for India’s homegrown vaccine. “The foundation for India-made Covid-19 vaccines becoming a reality was led by Dr Harsh Vardhan. The way he collaborated with other government departments, scientists, and the industry people to ensure make-in-India Covid-19 vaccines see the light of day, is commendable. It is his easy-going that made the conversations smooth.”

“With him around, the atmosphere would be extremely informal. We could discuss anything under the sun with him and provide suggestions freely. In fact, he was quite open to suggestions from the ministry officials, especially when Covid-19 struck and everyone was struggling to figure things out, he would patiently listen to everyone’s suggestions. It was a comfortable work environment,” said another former senior official of the health ministry, requesting anonymity.

According to the second official quoted above, Vardhan was convinced that India was capable of vaccinating its population with indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccines, but “kept reiterating that India may not require US-made Covid vaccines with other Covid vaccine candidates that were being tested in the country showing promising results in safety trials.”

In India, the home-grown vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, were made available through a national vaccination campaign in January 2021.

“India had also been importing certain items that proved to be essential in tackling Covid-19 such as PPE, masks etc. but it was amazing the way he brought together all players to build the capacity to indigenously manufacture these items. Within six months, there were at least 100 domestic manufacturers who started production,” the first official quoted above said.

Vardhan started a public dialogue every weekend on his social media account and called it Sunday Samvaad, where he would respond to queries from the general public on Covid-19 and related matters. The exercise worked wonders in dispelling rumours and misinformation that were rife in the early months of the global pandemic when very little was known about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and how to treat oneself if one contracted the viral disease.

Vardhan’s tenure, however, was not without its share of controversies and detractors.

In October 2020, the Union health and science minister released an Ayush-based clinical management protocol for the prevention and treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 cases based on alternative therapies, which did not go down well with the Indian Medical Association (IMA). The protocol for recovered patients included advice like: “At the individual level, immunity promoting AYUSH medicine as per the advisories already released by the AYUSH ministry is recommended, subject to consultation with a qualified practitioner. These include common or easy preparations like the Ayush Kwath, the Samshamanivati, Giloy powder with lukewarm water, Ashwagandha and Chyawanprash. Other recommendations include Amla fruit, Mulethi powder and Haldi milk.”

The IMA publicly and pointedly asked whether the proponents of this claim and his ministry were prepared to subject themselves as volunteers to an independent prospective double-blind control study in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. The medical body reiterated that science demanded the reproducibility of a claim and more studies.

“…He admits that these are based on empirical evidence which means that the evidence is anecdotal and based on individual subjective experiences. He himself relegates AYUSH as history rather than current by saying Ayurveda has contributed to the foundation of modern medicine. IMA demands that the Union health minister should come clean on the above points. If not, he is inflicting fraud on the nation and gullible patients by calling placebos drugs,” the members had said in a statement back in 2020 when the controversy erupted.

A few months later, Vardhan was in the crosshairs of the IMA again, after he promoted an Ayush (Ayurveda Yoga and Naturopathy Unani Siddha and Homoeopathy) drug manufactured by Baba Ramdev-founded Patanjali, called the coronil tablet. The makers had claimed that the tablet was the first evidence-based medicine for the disease and was approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The UN body eventually issued a statement that it had not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional drug — Patanjali retracted its claims. “If Coronil is effective for prevention, why is the government spending 35000 crore for vaccination,” the IMA wrote in a statement. It also criticised Vardhan for releasing “falsely fabricated unscientific products” to the people of India.

Vardhan’s tenure eventually ended in July 2021, and Mansukh Mandaviya became the Union health minister soon after the devastating second wave that saw simultaneous crises of low supplies of oxygen, medicine and hospital beds around the country.

“He did very well overall in managing Covid-19, there’s no denying that but he could have handled the controversy related to the promotion of traditional medicines against Covid-19 without adequate scientific data. The politician in him seemed to have gotten better of the modern medicine practitioner in him. He may have been towing the government line but there was a clear case of conflict as he was a man of science and what was being promoted was unscientific. He should have been honest about it and walked away, which would have increased his stature before the masses, I feel," said Dr RV Asokan, national president, IMA, who was the honorary secretary general of the IMA at the time of Vardhan’s tenure as Union health minister.