A Facebook (FB) post is claiming that the Department of Health (DOH) is allegedly dissuading people with diabetes from taking insulin and other medication to avoid risk of heart failure and stroke. This is fake.
The spurious post was published by an FB page on March 14, and continues to circulate this August. A part of the text post read:
“Shock! DOH recommends that diabetics immediately stop taking medication and injecting insulin regularly to avoid the risk of heart failure and stroke. Recently, experts have discovered the main cause of diabetes and introduced a completely new treatment method to help patients get rid of this disease without taking medication or injecting insulin.”
The FB page then gave a link to a website: dohnews.net, which is not the official DOH site (doh.gov.ph). When the .net link is clicked, it opens to a long ad about an “alternative diabetes treatment” called Glufarelin which can supposedly achieve a number of health feats, including “regenerating stem cells,” “stabilizing blood sugar levels,” “helping produce insulin naturally”.
On Aug. 1, the DOH told VERA Files Fact Check: “There is no truth to the said claim.”
“Insulin and other oral hypoglycemic medicines are among the pharmacological treatments for patients with diabetes depending on their glycemic status as indicated in the [DOH]’s Omnibus Guidelines for Health,” said the department’s Disease Prevention Control Bureau.
The agency also encouraged the public to consult with a medical professional should they have any health concerns so they can be guided and treated properly.
This is not the first time VERA Files has flagged a dishonest ad selling Glufarelin, a product not even approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Other versions of the fake ads used the names of the Philippine General Hospital, a doctor, and a priest.
The made-up post continued to circulate after this year’s diabetes awareness week, which was observed in the last week of July. Diabetes currently has no cure.
Impostor FB page PGH-Philippine General Hospital News (created on Dec. 4, 2023) published the post, garnering over 21,000 reactions, 4,300 comments and 10,000 shares.
