Hyderabad: Popular health influencer Veeramachineni Ramakrishna (VRK), who runs VRK Healthcare YouTube channel has been booked by Raidurgam Police after a diabetic law student ended up in the hospital after following his advice.
According to local reports, 30-year-old Kalleda Sai Krishna has been suffering from Type-1 diabetes since 2018 and depends on daily insulin.
After coming across VRK’s vidoes claiming that a ‘VRK diet’ could permanently cure his disease, Krishna visited the influencer’s healthcare facility in Raidurg on September 12 this year.
The practitioners there allegedly advised him to stop taking insulin and charged him Rs 26,000 for their service and supplements. The bill carried no GST details.
Two days later, he ended up in the hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis and severe dehydration. He was discharged on September 17 with a bill of Rs 58,219.
In his complaint to the police, Krishna questioned the qualifications and registrations of those providing advice at VRK centres. He claimed that VRK was only a Bcom graduate while another man, Koteshwar Rao, was a homeopathic doctor advising allopathic treatment.
A case has been registered under sections 318(4) (cheating), 125(a) (rash or negligent act that endangers human life) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Section 54 of the National Medical Commission Act, and the Drugs and Section 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 have also been invoked.
The complainant has also approached the consumer court seeking compensation.
Gag order against VRK
Meanwhile, the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) on Tuesday, September 29, secured a civil court order restraining VRK from publishing content involving unauthorised medical advice, Times of India reported.
It has also approached Meta and YouTube seeking removal or disabling of his content.
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