Maharashtra: Medical Council show-cause notice to orthopaedic surgeon over unscientific COVID cure claims

Mumbai: An orthopaedic surgeon has recently been issued a show-cause notice by the Maharashtra Medical Council for making unscientific claims of treating COVID-19 with yoga and fruit juice; which is not aligned with Indian Council of Medical Research or Government Protocols.

The doctors have been identified as one Dr Nilesh Patil and his wife Dr Pallavi from Bhadgaon Taluka, Jalgaon District, who have been 'treating' Coronavirus patients at a government primary centre with yoga and fruit juice.

The doctors claimed that patients could recover a lot faster with yoga and the right food.

Dr Patil has made several controversial claims pertinent to Covid-19 and its cure. In a series of interviews, the civil surgeon had stated that they were not using PPE during their interactions with the patients. Dr Patil claimed that he eats sweets given by COVID positive patients and he used their mobile phones when they requested him to talk to their relatives.

"We don't even use sanitisers. We took our daughter with us for yoga. We challenge the Maharashtra government to use us as guinea pigs to find out why we haven't got infected yet," Dr Nilesh as quoted in one of his interviews.

During another such interview, he even claimed, "We don't know if the coronavirus exists at all. Nobody has ever found the virus in an autopsy or post-mortem of a COVID-positive patient. Since there is no medicine for COVID, patients are being treated as guinea pigs. The swabs taken for tests are nothing but protein from saliva. It could be misleading. There is no need to fear the coronavirus."

The doctor also advised patients to not eat any cooked food for three days if they found any symptoms of Covid-19. "Antibiotics are nothing but chemicals. Those who consume antibiotics take [a long] time to recover… those who don't take any medicine respond to our treatment faster," he further stated.

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Taking note of the serious claims made by the doctor, Dr Shivkumar Utture, president of MMC, told Mumbai Mirror, "We have issued a show-cause notice to Dr Nilesh Patil for making such claims. We have asked for an explanation within seven days. We have already advised all doctors to follow the treatment as per WHO, ICMR, Government of India and Government of Maharashtra protocols. His claims are contradictory."

Abhijit Raut, Jalgaon District collector, told the daily, "From July 4 Saturday we have discontinued Dr Patil's service at Bhadgaon Taluka COVID care centre, where around 50 asymptomatic patients are being kept. His claims are misleading, exaggerated and untrue. We never allow anyone to physically mix with these patients. Around mid-May we allowed the couple to conduct yoga classes for patients. The civil surgeon has also sought an explanation from him over these claims."

Dr Patil confirmed that his voluntary service has been discontinued from Saturday. He was quoted as saying, "I read in a local newspaper that WHO has said asymptomatic COVID positive patients are not contagious. We follow social distancing but even in my hospital we don't use PPE."