Despite the government claiming to run several “anti-quackery campaigns”, the number of fake doctors in rural Sindh has not gone down. In fact, it has increased. In the rural belts of Khairpur, especially in Agra, Dupara and Jado Wahan, these campaigns have become a joke. They seem to be just a way for corrupt officials to collect money rather than stopping the quacks.
My father is a qualified doctor serving in this area, and I see the damage daily. He frequently receives patients whose condition has become much worse after visiting these imposters. These patients arrive with destroyed kidneys and bad infections, victims of the “magic injection” culture where dispensers with no degrees give heavy steroids and unverified drugs.
There is a sad irony here. Poor people flock to quacks thinking they are cheaper than private doctors. But the reality is that these charlatans are often more expensive. They charge high rates for unnecessary drips just to show they are giving “heavy treatment”.
The Sindh Healthcare Commission seems powerless. When teams arrive to seal clinics, a “understanding” is done, bribes are exchanged, and the seals are broken the following day. The campaigns have failed because the regulators have turned this into a business. Until we stop the corruption in the monitoring teams, the qualified doctors will remain unrecognised, and the poor of rural Sindh will continue to pay for this with their lives.
Om Parkash Jessani
Khairpur
