The CEO of an Asian television channel, Mr Neeraj Dhingra, has been fined £25,000 after a yoga expert allegedly claimed 11 basil leaves and three black peppers could cure cancer.
The comment was made by Dr Pankaj Naram, on a health show, broadcasted on the Asian channel, in July 2015. The doctor describes himself as an “authority” on Ancient Siddha-Veda Secrets, had allegedly claimed that he had “75,000 cancer patients” who were told by medical experts that they only had “another two or three months”, who went on to live normal lives 15 years on.
The show was watched by many and complaints were made to Ofcom.
Neeraj Dhingra admits that the claims made by Dr Naram were “outlandish” and should not have been broadcasted. He said, “It does sound outlandish to cure so many patients, so that became a bit of a problem. We spoke to the doctor immediately after it happened and we cancelled all his programmes and told him his communications and the way he puts it across were not right, because there are many things which can happen to prevent many of these diseases but to cure is not that easy. You need to have substantial evidence and proof.”
Dhingra further added, “We have ofcom lawyers who know all these issues and we go through a lot of scrutinising our programmes before they are aired. In this case there was an error on our part and that's why it led to this. It was not supposed to be aired in the UK at all.”
Ofcom said, “We took into account the licensee's comments that Dr Naram was 'reputable' in the field of Ayurveda and had 'helped thousand of patients across the globe.' However, in our view if Dr Naram was a widely known and reputed practitioner in ayurvedic practices, this was this was in fact likely to increase the risk of potential harm: his reputation might have encouraged more viewers to take his advice at the expense of personalised medical care provided by a qualified practitioner.”
