Out and about: Quacking their way through

Health dept report states less than one-sixth of 3,947 charlatan doctors in Sindh faced official action

HYDERABAD: Victims of quackery and citizens concerned have tried their hand for years to propel the authorities into taking some action. However, the outcome of these endeavours has so far arguably remained unavailing as the sordid practice rampantly continues thanks to official inaction.

This reluctance, or worse still, the alleged connivance in perpetuation of quackery of the health authorities was evident at a Sindh High Court (SHC) hearing in Hyderabad on Tuesday. A report submitted by the provincial health director-general in the SHC revealed that less than one-sixth of some 3,947 charlatan doctors identified in the province have faced official action.

More disappointingly, only 16 of them were nominated in FIRs registered by the police while the clinics and health centres of around 500 others were sealed. The report, compiled in May, 2016 on the SHC's order and submitted on Tuesday, further claimed that 705 fake doctors volunteered to close their health centres after receiving official warning.

The petitioner, advocate Ghulam Murtaza Laghari, rebutted the claim of both the sealing and closure of the clinics and decried the health authorities' apparent aversion to taking legal action against the quacks.

"The health department hasn't updated the figures since May," contended advocate Laghari. "They have also failed to take action on the SHC's order against quacks by lodging FIRs and bringing them to the book."

According to the report, the three districts of Sukkur division have the highest concentration of quacks at 1,196, with Khairpur alone having 661 such fraudsters. The Hyderabad division, which consists of nine districts, closely follows Sukkur with 1,154 quacks, with the Hyderabad district having the second-largest number of such imposters in the province at 302.

Some 436 quacks were identified in Benazirabad and Naushero Feroz districts in Nawabshah division and 268 in Karachi's East, Malir and Korangi districts. In Mirpurkhas, the health department claimed that 93 quacks out of the 112 traced have closed their clinics while another six clinics have officially been sealed.

Meanwhile, the authorities registered FIRs against the quacks in only three districts of Sindh: eight in Badin, five in Sukkur and three in Malir.

The petitioner, while talking to The Express Tribune, pointed out that the district health department of Badin has listed the names and location of each quack practising in the district. "When the government knows that a certain quack is working in a particular area, [why] no police action is taken [then]?" he questioned.

Following the SHC's order of May, 2016, the Sindh health department directed all the DHOs to submit a report of their respective districts, identifying the quacks, their areas, action and voluntary closure. The document submitted in the SHC is a compilation of the reports of the DHOs. The Hyderabad Circuit Bench of the SHC, comprising Justice Azizur Rehman and Justice Mehmood A Khan, expressed dissatisfaction with the government.

The bench gave one month to the government to take action against the quacks and submit a report.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2016.