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Coronavirus
Claim
An image of a prescription allegedly signed by Dr. Raj Kamal Agarwal at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi has been widely circulating on various social media platforms.
The prescription states that as per ICMR guidelines, a person who has come in contact with a COVID-19 positive patient must isolate themselves at home and take certain preventive medications.
Social media posts with this prescription can be viewed here, here and here.
Factcheck
A viral image of a prescription allegedly issued by Dr. Raj Kamal Agarwal at Sir Ganga Ram hospital in New Delhi has been making rounds largely on Whatsapp in the last few days.
The detailed prescription addressed “To Whom It May Concern” states that as per guidelines from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body for formulation of biomedical research in India, contacts of COVID-19 positive cases must self-isolate at home even if they only have mild symptoms.
The prescription further advises that everybody take certain preventive medication apart from following social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing masks. The list of medications listed in the prescription are: Hydroxychloroquine, Vitamin C, zinc; in case of fever it advises Crocin or Calpol; incase of throat pain and cough to take Cetrizine and syrup Alex.
The prescription is shown to be stamped and signed by Dr. Raj Kamal, a senior consultant in the Department of Anaesthesiology.
An advanced Twitter search led us to a post published by Sir Ganga Ram hospital’s official Twitter account which dismissed the prescription to be false on 11 June, 2020. They clarify that the image is fake and the said doctor’s signature is forged. See their post below.
Through a keyword search on Google we found a news report published by Hindustan Times on 12 June, 2020 debunking the prescription claim to be fake. The report states that Dr. Agarwal denied writing any such prescription.
The Quint’s news article published on 12 June also debunked the claim stating that the hospital clarified that the medications listed in the prescription should only be given to COVID-19 positive patients on a doctor’s recommendation.
This fake prescription allegedly written on the Ganga Ram hospital letterhead began circulating after the hospital came under fire for flouting ICMR’s COVID-19 guidelines earlier this month. Delhi government has now allowed the hospital to restart its testing for COVID-19 as per government guidelines. Ganga Ram confirms this with a statement posted on their Twitter page.
Conclusion
Sir Ganga Ram hospital’s official Twitter post confirms that the viral image of a prescription which claims to be written by Dr. Raj Kamal Agarwal of the Anaesthesiology department is fake.
Tools Used
Result: False
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Shaminder Singh
October 29, 2020
Shaminder Singh
October 26, 2020
Nikita Vashisth
September 14, 2020
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