Medical association set to register FIR against quack

The quack was using forged documents of a doctor who currently resides in Islamabad.

KARACHI: The Anti Quackery Committee (AQC) of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has decided to register an FIR against Dr Shabana Soomro, who runs the Sania Clinic and Maternity Home in Keamari, after the government's AQC failed to take any action.

The PMA's AQC, on Thursday, dispatched letters to top officials, including the provincial chief minister, provincial health minister, the health secretary, Health Department's director general, Karachi's health EDO, and representatives of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, urging them to take immediate action against Soomro. In the letters, the PMA has told the officials that no action has been taken despite several reminders tom them in this regard.



"She is still running an illegal clinic and playing with the lives of innocent people," Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, the secretary of the AQC-PMA told The Express Tribune. "We will register an FIR against her."

Meanwhile, the quackery committee's chairperson, Dr Aziz Khan Tank, said that the PMA would approach the provincial ombudsman to discuss the issue of quacks. "The Health Bill has been introduced in Punjab and action is being taken against fake doctors. Unfortunately, their number in Sindh is on the rise due to lack of interest of the public committees," he added.

The decision came after it was revealed that Soomro had used the name of another doctor, Dr Shabana Shoukat, who is doing her post-graduate from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. In her correspondence with the PMA's office bearers via telephone and email, Dr Shoukat has categorically denied any affiliation with Soomro, saying that Soomro had misused her name and documents. "My documents have been tampered and my picture is being used for her documents," she mentioned in her email.

The documents provided by Soomro claim that her seat number was 165219, while her enrolment No. was SMC-1716/2006. Dr Shabana Shoukat's enrolment number was DUHS/5925/2006 while her seat number was 1716/2006.

"Soomro's documents are tampered and fake. The future of the original doctor is at risk," Dr Shoro lamented. He informed The Express Tribune that almost all officials had been informed about the incident but no one had shown seriousness about resolving the issue.

"We are waiting for the right time to conduct a raid along with the police party," justified Keamari's AQC in-charge, Dr Muzaffar Jakhrani. "Her documents are not genuine. She is not a doctor. She has closed her clinic but I am informed that she is running her illegal practice from her home," he informed.

The PMA had started a probe against Soomro when a resident of Keamari, Amjad Khan, complained that his wife, Uzma, had died due to Dr Soomro's negligence on September 1, 2012.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2013.