Turkish herbalist claims finding cure for coronavirus
Mehmet Kasım Alageyik poses with jars of what he claims contain the solution to the world's coronavirus problem, Van, March 2, 2020. (İHA Photo)


An herbalist living in Turkey's eastern province of Van claimed on Monday that he can do what the largest nations in the world have not been able to do so far – cure the deadly coronavirus and with nothing but herbs.

Putting his concoctions on par with modern medicine, Mehmet Kasım Alageyik said no disease or ailment is able to withstand his remedies, as he went on to claim that he has cured dozens of conditions from skin cancer to cerebral palsy.

"I saw it on TV. They take X-rays of (coronavirus) patients. I know a thing or two about X-rays. The virus lodges in the lungs and destroys it. I regularly treat asthma, bronchitis and lung cancer, so I know. If these are treatable, it (the coronavirus) should be too. I can tell the medicine will cure coronavirus with a 95% or 100% success rate," Alageyik said to İhlas News Agency, as he admitted his only knowledge about the virus that killed more than 2,000 people and spread to almost every single country was limited to the news on TV.

Calling on authorities to seize his too-good-to-be-true cure, Alageyik said he just wants to help people. "None of my medicines are duds. I analyze all my treatments and adjust them accordingly. I don't make this stuff up. I just want to help people," he said.

To prove his credibility and to dispel any doubts about his cure, Alageyik further boasted about his past achievements. He said that he saved a patient who managed to host three types of cancer in his body without dying. Alageyik said that in just four months, he treated the patient's rare 3-in-1 type of cancer – brain, lung and stomach – and that the man is still around and in his 80s these days.

Elaborating on his solution for the coronavirus, Alageyik said his medicine was a mixture of different herbs that would kill the virus. "The government can have it and run tests on it. It will cure a patient within 15 to 20 days," he said.

While it's unclear whether the news of Alageyik's cure will send stocks of Big Pharma plunging, one thing is certain: With the media sensationalizing the issue, he will find people desperate or scared enough to buy it – no matter how far-fetched it sounds.