Successful implementation of yoga and naturopathy interventions for coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Tamil Nadu

Dear Editor,

We read the article by Deepak and Rao on yoga and meditation presenting an adjunct interventional strategy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with great interest.¹ They have proposed a unique protocol for the management of COVID-19 with various practices of yoga and meditation techniques for patients with mild and moderate symptoms. Recent findings have stated that COVID-19 infection presents a wide range of complications from asymptomatic to multi-organ failure.² Many initiatives toward pandemic control have been adopted by the Government of India with inputs from the Ministry of AYUSH. AYUSH therapies are recommended as supportive and adjuvant treatment in COVID management. In Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homeopathy has specifically recommended yoga and naturopathy interventions along with conventional care for COVID-19 patients.³ This advisory was prepared by experienced yoga and naturopathy doctors who recommended various yoga practices and naturopathy therapies (hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, self-acupressure, and sunbathing). In addition to that, a natural immune booster drink was also recommended to the patients. Patients admitted to the COVID care centers received yoga and naturopathy interventions by a team of yoga and naturopathy doctors on a daily basis. Videos regarding the same interventions were also shared for learning and self-practice. The main objective of these interventions was to promote the psychological well-being of the patients. A recent study on 100 COVID-19 patients (asymptomatic, mild, and moderate) with yoga and naturopathy interventions showed remarkable improvement in stress, anxiety, depression, and quality of sleep after 2 weeks.⁴ To date, more than 10 lakh patients have successfully undergone these interventions across 184 COVID care centers in Tamil Nadu. Out of which, 10 dedicated centers have successfully treated more than 10,000 patients without any adverse events. In addition, these interventions were given to the patients in home isolation through teleconsultation under the schemes called “AMMA Covid-19 Homecare” and “E-Sanjeevani”. Under these schemes, dedicated yoga and naturopathy doctors rendered 24 ´ 7 services through telephonic conversation and guided more than 1000 patients for better management. Patients who received our treatments revealed that these interventions were the best part of their hospital stay during their treatment period and recommended them along with a conventional approach to all the institutions.⁵ Successful implementation of yoga and naturopathy interventions during COVID-19 would be not possible without the cooperation of the patients and dedicated yoga and naturopathy doctors.