Baba Ramdev claims cancer cases went up after Covid, but here's what expert has to say
2 min read . Updated: 19 Feb 2023, 11:00 AM IST
PremiumDenying his claim, medical experts said there was no correlation between the two and the rise in cases was a normal phenomenon.
With news of Covid vaccine side effects related to heart has been reported, now Yoga guru Ramdev has claimed that cancer cases has increased in India after the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, denying his claim, medical experts said there was no correlation between the two and the rise in cases was a normal phenomenon.
While speaking before a gathering at Miramar beach in Goa where his Patanjali Yog Samiti had organised a yoga camp, Ramdev said, “Cancer has increased a lot. The cases of this disease have gone up after the COVID-19 pandemic. People have lost their eyesight, their sense of hearing…." Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was also present with him on the stage.
Speaking about his claim, a renowned oncologist said cancer cases have been rising by 5 percent annually and it has nothing to do with the pandemic. Former chief of the Indian Medical Association's Goa unit Dr Shekhar Salkar said the number of cancer cases is on the rise with the increase in population across the world.
There has been a 5 percent increase in cases annually, he said. “Cancer cases are not going to come down. But at the same time, you cannot attribute it to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr Salkar who also heads the medical cell of the Goa BJP.
Without naming Ramdev, he said, “Celebrities should make statements responsibly as people have faith in their words." India has 104 cancer patients per lakh of population, an increase from 85 patients per lakh in 2018, Dr Salkar noted.
“But at the same time, we are much better than the USA which has the rate crossing 500 patients per lakh," he added. India might surpass the US's cancer rate if we do not correct our lifestyle, he said.
Another oncologist, Dr Shredharan N, a surgical oncologist, said that a 5 per cent rise in the number of cancer patients is a normal phenomenon. “There is no data to say that cancer has increased after COVID-19 pandemic," he told PTI.
Earlier on 4 February, Ramdev had sparked a controversy. He had accused Muslims of resorting to terror and abducting Hindu women while comparing Hinduism to Islam and Christianity. In a gathering in Barmer, Rajasthan, Baba Ramdev had alleged that the two faiths were obsessed with conversion while Hinduism taught its followers to do good.
(With inputs from PTI)