Fake Prescription of Ganga Ram Hospital’s Doctor Goes Viral

The hospital has issued a clarification saying that the doctor’s signature have been forged.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A fake prescription on the letterhead of Sri Ganga Ram Hospital’s Senior Consultant Dr Raj Kamal Agarwal is being shared widely with a claim that the doctor has recommended ‘home isolation’ for COVID-19 patients along with medicines like hydroxychloroquine, Crocin and Cetrizine.

However, the hospital has issued a clarification saying that the doctor’s signature have been forged and that the prescription which is being circulated is “fake”.

CLAIM

The prescription advices people to take hydroxychloroquine, the controversial anti-malarial drug which has been also been used in the treatment of COVID-19, once a week. It further suggests that patients infected with COVID-19 should take Vitamin C tablets, Zinc tablets, cetirizine among other drugs.

An archived version can be seen here.(Source: Facebook)

The prescription is also being shared on WhatsApp and Twitter.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.(Source: Twitter)

(Photo: The Quint)

SIR GANGA RAM HOSPITAL CALLS LETTER ‘FAKE’

The official Twitter handle of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital shared the image of the prescription and clarified that it is “fake”.

Further the director of the hospital, too, issued a clarification stating that someone “has misused the prescription pad” of Dr Agarwal. The clarification further stated that the drugs mentioned in the prescription should only be given to patients suffering from COVID-19 on doctor’s recommendation.

“In the public interest, it is hereby immediately notified that all these drugs can be given to patient suffering from COVID-19 only on the prescription of doctors because these drugs in some patients can cause serious side effects related to heart, kidney, eyes etc. Nobody should take these drugs of their own,” the clarification reads.

WHAT ABOUT HCQ AND ZINC TABLETS?

The drugs which have been “recommended” in the prescription include HCQ, Zinc tablets, Vitamin C, Crocin. Here’s what we know about these drugs:

1. Hydroxychloroquine: ICMR continues to use Hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis and for treatment of COVID-19 after the top medical body stated that they haven’t found any major side-effect of the drug. However, earlier WHO had recommended against the usage of the drug.

2. Vitamin C and Zinc: Zinc and Vitamin C are known to strengthen the immunity, but they are not a sure-shot cure for the novel coronavirus. Speaking to The Quint’s WebQoof team, Dr Sumit Ray, a critical care specialist in Delhi NCR said Vitamin C and zinc have supposedly anti-inflammatory properties but this has not been proven in clinical trials, specially in the COVID setting.

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