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Quacks thriving as govt turns blind eye
Quacks thriving as govt turns blind eye, illegal clinic, Drug manufacturers, Fake doctors. The shortage of doctors and a sloppy medical administration has come as a boon to quacks thriving on the gullible populace, especially in slum and rural areas.
‘‘It is very hard to nail down each and every illegal clinic, especially in slum areas. We conduct decoy operations based on complaints.’’- Dr K Narendrudu, DM&HO, Hyderabad
- 1.5 lakh fake doctors practising in AP
- Only two cases filed against quacks in 10 years
- Health officials acting only on complaints
- Centre proposed death penalty to spurious drug manufacturers, but no stringent measures against fake doctors
Hyderabad: The shortage of doctors and a sloppy medical administration has come as a boon to quacks thriving on the gullible populace, especially in slum and rural areas.
There are 2.5 million quacks in India and about 1.5 lakh of them are in Andhra Pradesh. The illegal practice of the fake doctors is going unchecked in 25,000 villages, 1,200 mandal headquarters and 150 urban slums, according to a study by Association of Medical Consultants (AMC) conducted in 2010.
But contrary to the report, the State’s slackness was clearly seen when it informed, to a RTI query, that only two cases against fake doctors practising illegally were filed in the last decade, said RTI activist KN Sai Kumar.
He says when he sought details on the issue, the department, in the replies, gave him incomplete and misguided information.
Sharing his experience with The Hans India, Sai Kumar said, “I visited many clinics in Gudimalkapur and Jiaguda areas and asked the doctors to produce their registration number and their degrees, but none showed me. A few of them, without any fear, administer injections and act like qualified doctors. I filed an RTI with 10 questions to which I got answer to only four of them and that too incomplete.”
Ironically, when the question was put to Dr K Narendrudu, District Medical and Health Officer, Hyderabad, he said, “I don’t have any statistics with me right now and we issued notices to those clinics only which were under scanner. It is very hard to nail down each and every clinic, especially in slum areas.” When asked about action against the quacks, he said, “We conduct decoy operations based on complaints.”
The officials in the Health Department blame staff crunch for the current scenario. It is clear that the officials take up action based only on complaints.
With such an attitude of the health department it is obvious that the illegal business of pseudo doctors is rampant and thriving across the State. Even it is going unchecked in urban slums like Gudimalkapur, Jiaguda, Bandlaguda, Jiaguda, Yousufguda, Kalapathar, Langar Houz, Aman Nagar, Hasan Nagar, etc.
Also the existing laws are insufficient to instill fear among the culprits and to put a stop to the quackery menace.
