Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A number of medical consultants and specialists have warned diabetes and tumor patients against fake centers run by Asian gangs abroad claiming to treat these conditions through stem cell therapy. They said these gangs use social media to promote their medicines that that they claim will cure diabetes and cancerous tumors. Dr. Abdul Moeen Al-Agha, professor of diabetes and endocrinology at the College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, regretted the fact that the gangs were exploiting the helplessness of the patients with chronic diseases with lies. He said as soon as the summer vacation approaches, the fake medical centers in many countries would start their propaganda campaign to attract patients from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Agha recalled that a patient had come to him with an advertisement from a center in an Asian country. The advertisement claimed that the center uses stem cell therapy to permanently cure diabetes and cancer. He said the advertisement was titled "Farewell to diabetes and insulin injections". He added that the patient asked him to help him travel to this country. Agha said though new research into curing chronic diseases through stem cell therapy was promising it still faced many challenges for applying successfully. He said the claims that stem cells were successfully implanted in patients at a medical center in eastern Europe was fake and so were the claims that new herbal cures for diabetes and cancer were found in an Arab country. "The diabetes and cancer patients were victims of such bogus claims and false medical advertisements," he said, adding that these patients should be wise enough not to fall prey to such unsubstantiated claims.
