New Delhi: Sitting on the pavement along a busy street, Bhura Lal, an indigenous herb sellers, stick his finger into a mug full of greasy concoction and then applies the dark-red brew to areas where his patients complain of pain.
Ironically, these kind of quacks claim to treat almost all diseases. "I can cure all diseases, including knee pain, diabetes, blood pressure, obesity, impotence, arthritis and hair fall and piles," said Bhura Lal, who sells 'uncertified herbs on the pavements in East Delhi's Patparganj area.
Lal, who does not have a license to practice medicine, but claims to be a successful bone doctor and traditional healer, says this potion of 18 herbs is a cure for all. His large signboard, placed along the roadside, claims he can even treat paralysis. "I have a special potion for hair loss as well and it has guaranteed outcome, this can be cured with that potion and oil massage," Lal claimed as he rubbed the broken ankle of a young man with the potion.
Part of India's massive informal economy, these street-side medicine men and women are called quacks by the medical association but they say they are traditional healers. They cater to a huge market of poor people who cannot afford costly private health care. The number of such practitioners is unknown.
Lal runs his clinic like many others practicing his craft on the road. He doesn't have a nurse, disinfectants, a chair or a table, but people with broken limbs, ruptured muscles, cervical pain and back problems line up to be treated by him.
"I had multiple fractures five years ago. He cured me. I am back again for his treatment after suffering a fall that injured my ribs," said Balkar Singh, who was waiting for Lal to see him.
Lal pays around Rs 3,000 a month a ransom to run its business, to run his open-air clinic. He earns about that much in one day from his patients, which is a decent income in India. "Practicing medicine without a license is a crime in India. Health authorities say they act against such practitioners," said a medical official.
In the Delhi periphery, such kind of numerous tents have set up on footpaths, streets and under bridges where micro-clinics offer so-called "cures" for a variety of sexual conditions, mostly with their own herbal version of Viagra. Banners hanging over the tents promise guaranteed treatment on cash and credit. Inside are vials and jars full of powder, salts and herbs placed in order around images of Hindu gods and goddesses. "We do face problems when police and municipal officers come. But we manage it" by paying bribes, said Shiv Kumar, another quack, who runs a sexual disorder-treatment clinic on GT Road near Shahdara.
Allopathic doctors say that such unsubstantiated claims can lead to big trouble as they are not scientifically proved and do not have any authenticity. "These so called uncertified herbs can have long lasting effects on the body and patients can suffer from life threatening diseases such as kidney failure, permanent damage to liver and cancer as well," said Dr Kuldeep Kumar, Assistant Professor, UCMS.
He further said that these herbs can cause malignancies, a kind of tumor. Person without qualification treating jaundice and stone-affected patients should be dealt with strictly by the government agencies.