Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday asked yoga guru Ramdev to withdraw derogatory remarks he allegedly made against allopathy.

In a video circulated on social media, Ramdev was heard saying allopathy is "a stupid science" and medicines such as remdesivir, faviflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat Covid-19 patients.

In a letter to Ramdev, Harsh Vardhan said: "The statement disrespects the corona warriors and hurt the sentiments of the country. Your statement on allopathy can break the morale of healthcare workers and weaken our fight against Covid-19. "

Allopathic medicines have saved lives of crores of people and comments that it is responsible for death of lakhs is extremely unfortunate, he added.

The development comes after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Saturday condemned Ramdev's remarks and demanded action against him.

Condemning Ramdev's controversial remark, IMA had said that he (Ramdev) deserves to be prosecuted for disobeying and causing danger to the life of many by making them believe that the advice of allopathic doctors be not taken.

"The IMA demands and resolves if the minister (Harsh Vardhan) is not taking suo moto action, we will be forced to resort to democratic means of struggle to propagate the truth to the common man and knock the doors of the judiciary to get due to justice," IMA had said in its statement.