Fact-check: PTV broadcasts false and dangerous claim calling chemotherapy 'fraud'

Pakistani social media users are sharing a video aired on the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV), which claims that a new cancer treatment is available to patients in the country, eliminating the need for chemotherapy. The video also refers to chemotherapy as a “multi-billion-rupee fraud”.

The claim is false and not supported by scientific evidence.

Claim

On December 14, a social media user on X (formerly known as Twitter) shared a video clip that was broadcasted on PTV. The footage was captioned: “The Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, is set to introduce an advanced cancer treatment, which will help cancer patients recover from this disease, not just in Punjab but across the whole country.”

The user also added that this new treatment would “expose” the alleged multi billion-rupee fraud of chemotherapy in Pakistan.

While the video, which is from the PTV show "Siyasat Tonight", features an analyst who calls chemotherapy a "fraudulent" practice used to deceive people. 

The analyst further claimed that Maryam Nawaz Sharif was bringing a Chinese technology to the country that will freeze the cancerous part of the body and remove it.

The post has garnered over 6,700 views and more than 174 reposts.

The claim was shared by several other social media users too, and can be seen here, here and here.

Fact

The claim in the video is false and dangerous, say doctors.

Professor Parvez Ahmed, the patron-in-chief of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Blood and Marrow Transplant Group, told Geo Fact Check that calling chemotherapy a “fraud” was highly concerning. He emphasised that such statements could spread misinformation and misguide the public.

"Chemotherapy is a standard and curative treatment for many cancers, and it is a vital part of cancer care," Ahmed explained. "The general public often lacks detailed knowledge about such treatments, and misleading claims like this can discourage patients who genuinely need chemotherapy."

Dr Mehreen Ali Khan, the secretary of the Rawalpindi-based Pakistan Society of Hematology, also condemned the claim, stating that it was “totally false” and unsupported by any scientific evidence. She highlighted that chemotherapy is an essential and globally recognised method for treating cancer.

"Spreading false information about cancer treatments, especially in a society with low literacy rates, is highly objectionable and unacceptable," she added. "We strongly condemn this kind of misinformation."

Separately, several professional medical societies in Pakistan, including the Society for Medical Oncology Pakistan (SMOP), Pakistan Society of Hematology (PSH), Pakistan Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (PBMT), Pakistan Society of Pediatric Oncology (PSPO), Pakistan Society of Clinical Oncology (PSCO), and the Surgical Oncology Society of Pakistan (SOSPK), released a joint statement calling out PTV for airing misleading information.

They warned that such content could be potentially dangerous for cancer patients and urged PTV to distance itself from the views expressed by the analyst.

Geo Fact Check reached out to PTV for a comment, but did not hear back till the filing of this report.

Verdict: The claim that chemotherapy is a "fraud" is false. Chemotherapy remains a widely used and scientifically backed treatment for various types of cancer.

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