Hadi Pranoto's Claim About The Herbal COVID-19, IDI: Misleading

Anji and Hadi Pranoto (Photo: Instagram @duniamanji)

JAKARTA - Hadi Pranoto's claim that he admitted to concocting herbal antibody to COVID-19 was considered misleading. Apart from his dubious medical track record, Hadi Pranoto is also said to have spoken without data.

"(Hadi Pranoto's) claims must be straightened out because they are untrue, misleading," said COVID-19 spokesperson for the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Executive Board, Erlina Burhan, when contacted by VOI, Monday, August 3.

In the interview video on the MANJI world YouTube channel owned by Erdian Aji Prihartanto alias Anji, Hadi Pranoto made a number of claims. He admitted that he had succeeded in creating a COVID-19 antibody herbal medicine which was claimed to have been distributed to Java, Sumatra and Bali.

In addition, Hadi Pranoto, who was called a 'professor' in an interview with Anji, said the potion was effective in curing positive COVID-19 patients within 2-3 days. Hadi Pranoto also claims about new technology to test positive for COVID-19 through sweat and saliva. With this technology, the swab test, the price of which Hadi claims, can be cheaper, ranging from IDR 10-20 thousand.

"Those are only testimonials, not from research. So I think his claim is not true, because we have evidence based medicine (a medical approach based on scientific evidence), "said Erlina.

Erlina also questioned the claim for a swab test worth Rp.10-20 thousand. Because swab tests at private hospitals set a price of IDR 1.5-2 million.

"The government hospital (the fee) is free," he continued.

From a series of claims by Hadi Pranoto that made a scene on social media, Erlina appealed to the public to digest every information received. The public is asked to double-check the competence of resource persons, including seeking scientific studies if the conversation is related to medicine

"People must be smarter in checking and checking," he said.

Hadi Pranoto's previous claim was also denied by the Bali Provincial Health Office. The head of the Ketut Health Office, Suarjaya, denied that his territory used the Hadi Pranoto herb.

"We have never been informed about these products and Bali has never used these herbal medicines," he said, contacted separately.

Meanwhile, the police will investigate Hadi Pranoto's claims. It is suspected that Hadi's statement about the herbal COVID-19 was a lie because there was no scientific proof

"Of course with this information, we will conduct an investigation about the truth of the information," said Head of Public Relations of the Lampung Police, Kombes Zahwani Pandra Arsyad.