A day after three-time Grammy Award-winning composer Ricky Kej shared his views on the ongoing war of words between actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu and hepatologist-medical influencer Cyriac Abby Philips, also known as The Liver Doc on social media, renowned Indian badminton player Jwala Gutta stepped in with a strongly worded message to Samantha.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Jwala questioned whether Samantha or her doctor would take responsibility for any fatalities resulting from their alternative medical 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,” she asked.
Meanwhile, Telugu-Tamil actor-director Rahul Ravindran urged The Liver Doc to enter into a debate with the doctor who prescribed the procedure to Samantha “rather than going after her.” In a lengthy post, Rahul addressed The Liver Doc, saying, “Since you do seem to care about this information being put out… would have been nice if you had engaged in a debate with a fellow doctor rather than go after her and… I am sure inadvertently, put a target on her back for an opinionated mob. And even go so far as to suggest she should be in prison. Shouldn’t you be taking on the doctors and the organisations that prescribe this to the public and publish articles recommending its effectiveness?”
The ongoing controversy started when Samantha endorsed nebulizing hydrogen peroxide and distilled water as an alternative treatment for viral infections in a social media post. Calling her “health and science illiterate,” The Liver Doc noted on X that she could’ve been jailed for making such claims in a “rational and progressive society.”
Following this, Samantha issued a lengthy statement responding to the doctor’s remarks, mentioning that she landed on treatments that “worked wonderfully” for her after lots of “trial and error.” She, however, stated that she will be ‘more careful’ about medical advice henceforth. Many celebrities, including Varun Dhawan, Rhea Chakraborty, and Manchu Lakshmi, came out in her support. Ricky Kej, on the other hand, supported The Liver Doc’s statement while condemning his choice of words.
After Samantha issued the statement, The Liver Doc had lashed out at her for the “endorsement of unscientific, pseudoscientific and baseless alternative medicine therapies by playing the victim card and endorsing more alternative practices.” “She is a serial offender in the context of healthcare misinformation and she has been in the line of fire previously too,” he added.
