Quacks Preying on Vulnerables
Sending chills down the spines of the public, allegations of fake doctors endangering lives by providing medical treatment, including surgeries.
- Sending chills down the spines of the public, allegations of
fake doctors endangering lives by providing medical treatment, including
surgeries, to unsuspecting patients without professional qualifications have
emerged from various parts of the country of late. Last month, Madhya Pradesh
Police arrested a man who, posing as a UK-returned cardiologist, conducted
surgeries on more than a dozen patients in 45 days, allegedly leading to the
deaths of at least seven people. In a similar incident, a woman accused of
causing the death of a pregnant woman during an illegal surgery was arrested in
Delhi after absconding for nine years. The accused had forged a Bachelor of
Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degree and even set up an illegal clinic
and an operating theatre in the city, according to police. In another
horrifying incident, a young woman died after an operation theatre technician
with no medical degree allegedly performed a C-section on her at a hospital
operating without a license by a couple with no medical qualifications.
According to the police, the accused had admitted to conducting 15 surgeries.
Closure home, Dimapur Police arrested a person last week for impersonating a
medical doctor following a complaint lodged by the Nagaland Medical Council
earlier this year, alleging that the accused person was practicing medicine
without the mandatory registration required under the Medical Council Act of
2014. It was found out that the accused had been practicing medicine in the
heart of the city for years without the necessary qualifications, triggering
public outrage and potentially causing mental trauma to hundreds of patients
who had received treatment from him. These are just a few cases that have hit
the headlines in the last month. Many Munnabhais (a fictional character in the
2003 Bollywood hit movie “Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.”) have been caught in the past,
and many could be on the prowl to prey on unsuspecting patients, putting their
lives in peril.
- Quackery and charlatanism rule the roost when public health
systems fail. Despite the visible threat posed to public health, these
swindlers continue their illegal activities from practically anywhere,
including makeshift tents on the sidewalks and roadsides, offering treatment
for all sorts of ailments from impotency to paralysis and from blood cancer to
joint pain with no scientific basis. We don’t know how many patients have died,
been denied timely and right treatment, or acquired deadly viruses (due to poor
hygiene) at the hands of these fraudsters who have no medical knowledge.
Quackery is addressed under the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act of 2019
and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), stipulating penalties
including imprisonment and fines for contraventions of the laws, yet the menace
remains. Sadly, the existing laws and the concerned authorities have failed to
address the issue, even as people continue to turn to quacks, some out of sheer
ignorance and others out of desperation and lack of health facilities near
them, especially in rural areas. This calls for urgent need to crack down on
fraudsters, create awareness about the dangers of quackery, provide quality
health services and enhance public vigilance. We can’t allow mistrust to erode
trust in the medical profession.
