In a Kenya government hospital, a patient was x-rayed and was told that there was a live cockroach in his chest. “You will have to go to Singapore for treatment.”
The patient went to Singapore and was told that the cockroach is not in his chest but inside the x-ray machine
This is a viral hoax that has circulated on social media, with variations in different countries. The story is a joke, not a real medical event, and the image of the cockroach is doctored. The “story” plays on the idea that a cockroach was mistakenly identified in a chest x-ray, but it was actually inside the x-ray machine itself.
- The story is a hoax: The premise of a cockroach being in a patient’s chest is not a true medical event, but a fabricated story that has been shared widely online.
- The image is doctored: The x-ray images used to illustrate the story have been digitally manipulated to insert a cockroach.
- It is a variation of other hoaxes: Similar stories have circulated in other countries like Myanmar and Zimbabwe, claiming the same doctored image was used to tell a similar hoax story about a patient being told to travel for treatment after an incorrect diagnosis.
