Bogus Philippine hospital website touts unregistered 'treatment for osteoarthritis'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 10, 2023 at 08:55
- 3 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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"You should not try to andure (sic) the pain of the joints. Please prevent and stop early before complications strike," reads the thumbnail of the link to the imposter site shared on Facebook on March 7.
The thumbnail shows the logo for the Manila Doctors Hospital in the Philippine capital.
"Severe osteoarthritis causes loss of mobility, muscle atrophy, joint deformity or disability," it goes on to say.
"It also causes complications in other organs such as damege (sic) to the heart, especially th (sic) heart valves, and this is a cause of cardiovascular disease and can cause death in old age."
The link in the post leads to a site that also bears the hospital's logo. However, the site's URL "healthybones.life" is not connected to the Manila Doctors Hospital site.
"People with osteoarthritis pain can supplement with 2-3 glasses of Grandsure Gold milk per day," the website says.
It adds the product is "FDA certified" and provides "treatment for osteoarthritis without recurrence".
Osteoarthritis is a long-term condition that affects joints.
But contrary to the post's claim, the relationship between osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease is "not straightforward" and needs further research, according to a 2020 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Similar false posts were also shared on Facebook here and here.
Cora Acosta, a communications officer for the hospital, told AFP it is "not affiliated" with the bogus website and the claim in the posts is "not true".
"The Manila Doctors Hospital is not endorsing any product," she said.
The genuine URL for the hospital's website is maniladoctors.com.ph.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the imposter website (left) and the genuine website for the hospital (right):
The Philippine FDA earlier warned against consuming Grandsure Gold in an advisory issued on March 8, 2022, saying, "The agency cannot assure its quality and safety."
Keyword searches found Grandsure Gold was not listed in the FDA's registered products database as of March 10, 2023.
Osteoarthritis has no cure but symptoms can be managed with changes in lifestyle, pain relievers and a combination of therapies, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on its page about the condition here.
Dr Geraldine Zamora, a rheumatologist at the Manila Doctors Hospital, also told AFP that treatment for the condition "is lifelong because (osteoarthritis) is not reversible".
AFP has previously debunked fabricated endorsements of unregistered products here, here, here and here.
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