SHC directs lower judiciary to monitor anti-quackery operation

Court also orders health dept and healthcare commission to hand over list of quacks to district and sessions judges

HYDERABAD: As quackery continues in violation of the previous court orders, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the district judiciary to monitor the anti-quackery operation currently under way in four districts of Sindh. The two-member bench comprising  Justice Abdul Malik Gaddi and Justice Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui in Hyderabad circuit on Tuesday directed the Sindh health department and Sindh Healthcare Commission to hand over lists of quacks to the district and sessions judges by December 21.

The senior superintendents of police (SSPs) of Badin, Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas and Tando Muhammad Khan districts have also been directed to assist the action which will be headed by the health authorities. "... the case in hand is very serious and sensitive and pertaining to the lives of public at large," the bench observed.



Health Services Director-General Mubeen Ahmed Memon submitted a report of quacks operating in those four districts. He told the court that he himself had sealed the clinics of three fake doctors and a medical store operating without licence as an admission that the unlawful medical practice existed.

The bench also asked the officials to submit a separate report on the status of quacks whose clinics have been sealed so far. "... eliminate activities of the fake doctors and take action against those running medical stores without licence," the SHC ordered.

The court was apprised that Dr Ayaz Mustafa, anti-quackery director of Sindh Healthcare Commission, was leading the action in collaboration with the health department. In 2016, the action against quacks was expedited in Sindh on the order of Justice Salahuddin Panhwar of SHC. But, it later fizzled out without eradicating the menace of quackery.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2018.