A village road in Assam blocked to contain virus spread (Photo | EPS)
GUWAHATI: At a time people are losing their lives to COVID-19 worldwide, a Guwahati-based doctor has described it as “hoax”.
Dr. Satyakam Phukan, who is a general surgeon in his sixties, filed an FIR online with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), marking a copy to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on June 18 requesting the agency to take steps to ensure that people do not suffer in the name of the hoax. The CBI has not yet responded to the FIR.
To buttress his claim, he shared the links of several stories on COVID-19 published in the international independent media.
“It has come to my notice that the whole issue of the Corona/Covid-19 virus has been reported to be a hoax in the international independent media and has been reportedly exposed by many in America and Europe, although the same has not been reported so in the corporate media,” Dr. Phukan wrote in the FIR.
He said he, as a doctor, did not see any rationality in the kind of harassment meted out to people in the name of this “so-called disease”.
“I am providing some of those links to you. Many more can be found on searching ‘Corona Virus Hoax’ or ‘Corona Virus Hoax empty hospitals’ in Yandex or Duckduckgo search engines, while such contents do not come on searching Google or Bing. I am providing more links below to the exact reporting. Added to that Supreme Courts in Wisconsin state of USA and in Pakistan have lifted the lockdown on the ground that the said disease is not a pandemic,” the FIR reads.
“…I hereby lodge this first information report on the issue of Corona/Covid19 Virus Hoax. I request you to kindly look into the matter and take steps to see that our country and the people do not suffer in the name of a HOAX,” it further reads.
Talking to this newspaper on Friday, Dr. Phukan expressed unhappiness that medicines for diseases such as malaria, mumps and scabies were being used to treat “a viral disease”.
Stating that there is nothing called social distancing in a viral disease, he said its enforcement meant there was a psychological element there.
“I do not wear a mask or follow social distancing. There are many doctors around the world who do not wear masks,” the doctor added.
