On Friday, 23 July several news publications published a report claiming that the "National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Ministry of AYUSH had approved a diet-based treatment for those with mild to severe COVID-19".
The method was called Network of Influenza Care Experts (NICE) protocol and it was coined by one Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury, who made several misleading and dangerous claims about COVID-19 earlier.
The Ministry of AYUSH on Wednesday, 28 July issued a clarification on the claims and said that ministry had not approved the new treatment protocol. The press release also said that the mention of its name in the press conferences held by Chowdhury were not approved by the ministry.
CLAIM
The headline of the news articles were on the lines, "NIN & AYUSH Ministry recommends NICE protocol for COVID treatment".
The report was published by Express Health Desk, The Week and several other websites.
The report in The Week carried a disclaimer that said, "The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire India."
The highlights of the protocol, according to the news reports were:
With NICE protocol, mild to severe patients, can be cured in seven days.
No medications are involved in NICE protocol, Only coconut water, and citrus fruit juice is the major ingredient of the treatment, besides prone ventilation for severe patients with breathing difficulties.
No mortality, adverse event, or side effect was seen among the patients on NICE protocol.
Instead of social distancing/PPE Kit/masks patients were encouraged to sing, dance, regular visits by family members, and even marriages functions were organized in the COVID-19 center (Ahmednagar).
Archives of more such posts on Facebook and Twitter can be found here, here and here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We looked up the Ministry of AYUSH's website and found that no such treatment had been recommended by the ministry.
While conducting a keyword search, we found a press release by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) that said that debunked the claims made in the news reports and by Chowdhury.
The release was titled, "AYUSH Ministry has not approved protocol developed by Network of Influenza Care Experts".
We found that in the press conference, Chowdhury had claimed that the National Institute of Naturopathy had approved his protocol as opposed the National Institute of Nutrition - as mentioned in the news report.
The press release said that claims made by NICE were false. It stated that "while NIN has done a retrospective observational study for documenting the practices being adopted at NICE Centre in Ahmednagar, it was in no way an endorsement of the said practices".
It also dismissed NICE's claim that COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing PPE Kits, masks or follow social distancing was not necessary. Finally, the press release said that "the use of the name of NIN, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India and the National Emblem was not authorised".
Who is Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury?
Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury, who claims to have an honorary PhD in diabetes studies, is not new to the world of misinformation.
In the past, he has made several false claims on curing diabetes with a fruit-based diet – similar to the NICE protocol – in 72 hours. The claim was debunked by The Quint’s WebQoof team.
Earlier this year, Chowhury, along with a Tarun Kothari and others, put out a false advisory for who should not take the COVID-19 vaccine. This claim was also debunked by The Quint.
His official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages have been banned for spreading misinformation, but the 'internet doctor' continues to spread false and misleading claims on COVID-19, diabetes and vaccines through his followers, some of whom have a huge following on social media.
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