No, Haryana doctor who consumed cow dung was not admitted to the hospital

by Kinjal

Two photos have been circulating widely on social media recently. The first shows a man lying on a hospital bed surrounded by medical equipment, while the second is the thumbnail of a video made by News18 Virals. The thumbnail shows a man consuming cow dung and a speech bubble on the side claiming, “Eating a spoonful of cow dung will purify your body and mind.” Sharing the images, users are claiming that this doctor who consumed cow dung has now been hospitalised with an infection.

Twitter user ‘Doctor Gulati L L B’ amplified the photos with the same claim. (Archive link)

Another user named Mohammed Hussain also promoted the images and accompanying claim, adding that the doctor hailed from Karnal. The post was retweeted by over 300 handles as of this writing. (Archive link)

A few other Twitter users also circulated the visuals.

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The images are widespread on Facebook with the same claim.

Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image search of the photo featuring the man in the hospital bed. This led us to a post on the crowdfunding platform Gofundme. The man in the image has been identified as 29-year-old Bidhan Thapa, a resident of the United States. When he suddenly fell ill, Thapa was admitted to a hospital on July 7, 2017. He passed away three days later on July 10, 2017. The post was created to raise the funds needed to fly his body to his native country of Nepal.

Coming to the second viral image, we performed another reverse image search and came across a video by News18 Virals dated November 17, 2021. The man here is identified as Dr Major Mittal from Haryana who encourages his viewers to consume cow dung to boost their health.

Alt News tried to contact Dr Mittal, but we were unsuccessful. However, his receptionist clarified that he is completely healthy and fit, and is consulting with patients at his hospital.

This confirms that the image of the man on the hospital bed is at least four years old, and is not linked in any way to Dr Manoj Mittal.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.