Mushrooming quacks discrediting Delhi's doctors

NEW DELHI: The national Capital has been witnessing a sharp rise in the number of quacks, who have been creating havoc by means of their unlawful medical practices, in rural as well as urban areas.

The menace of quacks is threatening the sanctity of the medical profession, as well as the lives of patients they treated.

Dr Anil Bansal, chairman of the Anti-Quackery Cell of Delhi Medical Council (DMC) revealed that the Council is flooded with complaints of quacks across the city. "We receive around 25 complaints a month and respond as well. But most of the time, police do not respond appropriately and medical officials have had to face the consequences during the raids."

Meanwhile, "the lack of awareness and delinquency in the system has led to mushrooming of quacks in the city," he added.

Even as he admitted that no data on quacks is maintained centrally, Dr Bansal stresses that quacks are present in lakhs in India, with around 60,000 working in Delhi. Last year, DMC had released closure orders for a mere 109 quacks in the city.

His statement is supported by a study of the World Health Organisation, which states that 57.3 per cent of allopathic doctors did not have a medical qualification, with 31.4 per cent educated only up to secondary school level.

According to Dr Girish Tyagi, secretary-cum-registrar, DMC, "We receive several hundreds of complaints about active quacks in Delhi. We have requested the police to register around 415 complaints in the past four years from Delhi. Out of these, 125 FIRs have been registered by Delhi Police."

Tyagi added that the registration of complaint is completely the police's discretion.

Elaborating on how action is taken against such imposters, Tyagi said, "Whenever a complaint is registered, it is sent to the concerned chief district medical officer to visit the spot. They then send the report to the DMC, whether the concerned person is an allopathic doctor or not.

"And if he/she is into allopathic medical practice, the DMC then issues a show-cause notice, following which the Council investigates the matter. If the quacks fail to answer properly during the probe, the medical council then asks him/her to shut down the clinic. This compliance report is then sent to the CDMO, deputy commissioner of police, station house officer and secretary of health."

Meanwhile, another official claimed that cases of quacks have gone up significantly, as last year DMC had reported 240 complaints of fake doctors running illegal businesses in the city.

In 2015, the council had just reported 120 complaints against fake doctors.