Badminton player Jwala Gutta has also joined the conversation about the ongoing clash between actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu and hepatologist and social media influencer Cyriac Abby Philips, known as The Liver Doc.
Jwala Gutta slams Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Jwala raised concerns about the responsibility associated with endorsing alternative medical treatments. She questioned whether Samantha or her doctor would be accountable for any adverse outcomes resulting from these alternative procedures. “My only question to the celeb who’s prescribing medicine to the huge number of people who are following her… I understand the intention is to help… But… just in case… just in case the prescription doesn’t help and causes a fatality… will you be taking responsibility too? Will the doctor who you have tagged also take the responsibility,” Jwala asked.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Liver Doc clash
It all started when Samantha endorsed nebulising hydrogen peroxide and distilled water as an alternative treatment for viral infections in a social media post. The Liver Doc responded by calling her “health and science illiterate” and stated that she could’ve been jailed for making such claims in a “rational and progressive society.”
In response to the backlash, Samantha issued a lengthy statement explaining that she arrived at the treatments that “worked wonderfully” for her after much “trial and error.” She also noted that she would be “more careful” about giving medical advice in the future. Many celebrities, including Varun Dhawan, Rhea Chakraborty, and Manchu Lakshmi, voiced their support for Samantha.
Liver doc replied to the actor’s response and wrote, “He described Samantha’s claims about the use of hydrogen peroxide nebulisation as “unscientific, pseudoscientific, and baseless.”
“Please note, she is a serial offender in the context of healthcare misinformation and she has been in the line of fire previously too. The reason why doctors like me have to spend (waste) time from our busy schedules to fight misinformation online is because it is peddled by large influential ‘celebrity’ accounts that have no regard for public health. Engagement and monetization is their concern,” he wrote.
Philips said that “public health and disease prevention” are his primary motives, and he will therefore continue to “strongly criticise, be blatant, and brutal” towards false claims. He urged Samantha not to play the “victim” and encouraged her to “unlearn and re-learn.”
“I expected better from someone who claims that she wants to ‘improve.’ This is far from improvement. A rational and logical response would be to delete the public health endangering posts and apologize to her millions of followers and vow to never quote or cite fraudulent practices or practitioners,” The Liver Doc added.