A Chainat man, who claimed to have lost the sight of his left eye after applying Auntie Cheng's fermented bio liquid to cure pterygium [a non-cancerous growth], is scheduled to have the eye removed today at Bangkok's Rajvithi Hospital.
Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit visited the man, Somchai Theunsri, 48, at the hospital where he has been admitted as a special patient entitled to free medical services. Jurin said Somchai will have an artificial eye implanted in the next six weeks. The Public Health Ministry will provide the treatment and the eye surgery without service charge, he added.
Jurin said the man told him he had bought the fermented bio-liquid called jiaranaiphet, from Auntie Cheng's shop at Chon Buri province's Laemchabang district, to treat a cataract in his left eye.
"People should not believe in the properties of Auntie Cheng's fermented bio liquid to cure any ailment," Jurin stressed.
Dr Phongsak Patchimkul, director of Rajvithi Hospital's Department of ophthalmology, said the man's eye was totally blinded when the fermented bio liquid destroyed his cornea and caused infection.
Somchai said he was told by his friends about the properties of Auntie Cheng's fermented bio liquid to treat any illness.
"I felt a sharp pain in the eye when I dropped in the liquid for the first time," he said.
He said Auntie Cheng's told him the infection was a normal eye condition common in many people. So he decided to continue using it - but the infection returned and he eventually became blind.
Somchai was a driver of motorcycle for hire earning Bt 10,000 a month. Now that he's lost an eye he does not know what he will do to earn his living in future.
"I was totally foolish and I have to accept what has happened to me," he said.
However, Jurin said he could sue Auntie Cheng in a public fraud case if ten people informed him about illness caused from using the fermented bio liquid.
