Samantha Ruth Prabhu has been receiving flak for recommending hydrogen peroxide nebulisation to treat viral infections, following which she also issued a clarification explaining her point of view. However, Grammy Award-winning music composer Ricky Kej does not agree with that as he feels it was irresponsible of Samantha to advocate a medical procedure. 

After a doctor on social media criticised Samantha as a "health and science illiterate" for sharing alternative health treatments, the actor called him rude. At that time, Ricky had shown his support to the doctor in Samantha’s comment section.

Ricky slams Samantha

When Hindustan Times reached out to Ricky, he opined that he was shocked and a tad disappointed to see Samantha propagating dangerous medical practices.

“A medical procedure was being advocated by a celebrity with tremendous influence. It was going into dangerous territory because this particular medical treatment could also be life threatening. It was quite irresponsible (on her part), simply because she is talking about something that is life threatening,” Ricky tells us.

He continues, “There are a lot of people who are constantly looking for alternative medicine sources, because they think that traditional medicine sources do not work. They can be very impressionable, especially when a celebrity endorses something. That’s why it's very important for regulations to be executed very strongly so that celebrities absolutely refrain from endorsing any kind of medical procedure”.

Why defend

In fact, Ricky was perplexed when he saw her defending her initial post. “I am not naive enough to go about strongly advocating a treatment. I merely suggested with good intention because of all that I have faced and learnt in the last couple of years,” Samantha said in her clarification note.

The global musical artist was left shocked when he read the post, and notes, “When you double down on it, it makes it worse. For me, advocating the practice was bad, but it wasn't as bad as the fact that she was defending it. She was trying to slyly put down the doctor who called her out”.

“It didn’t make sense to me… She is the one with influence, and she is the one advocating it. So, she is the one who needs to be called out. And she is the same person who advocates sugary drinks and processed food for dogs… Endorsing those things is fine, but don't call yourself a person who is trying to advocate for health,” he stresses.

Stricter rules

Here, Ricky puts light on the need to have stricter implementation of rules and regulations to keep a check on the same.

“The regulations are already in place where they lay down what a person can’t endorse. Now, it needs to be executed very strongly. That is how people will avoid casually doling out medical advice, which could be harmful for a patient,” he ends.

More about the issue

Samantha, who has been open about her battle with Myositis diagnosis, had recently shared about the benefits of hydrogen peroxide nebulisation, but the doctor, whose real name is Dr Abby Philips and goes by the social media handle The Liver Doc, had slammed the actor for sharing misinformation with her fans.

Samantha had shared a picture of herself using a nebuliser. “Before taking medication for a common viral, consider trying an alternative approach. One option is to nebulise with a mixture of Hydrogen peroxide and distilled water. Works like magic. Avoid unnecessary use of pills,” she wrote on Instagram. The “Liver Doc” reacted to the share by calling her a “health and science illiterate”.

Later, Samantha clarified and said her post was not a paid endorsement but she will be more careful in future. “It would have been kind and compassionate of him had he not been so provocative with his words, especially the bit where he suggests that I should be thrown in prison. Never mind. I suppose it goes with the territory of being a celebrity,” she wrote.

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