Anti Quackery Crackdown in Tamil Nadu: Health Department nabs 17 Quacks, 29 on run

Government Doctor's name and registration number were being misused by an Unani Practitioner for running his clinic for a long time in Konavattam. In another case, a lady was operating a clinic in the name of her spouse, who is a practising doctor.

Vellore: In a major anti quackery crackdown, the district Health Department have arrested 17 quacks who were found practising medicine and operating a clinic without any qualification. According to the officials, 29 more are on the run.

As per a report by The Hindu, several complaints were received by the deputy director and Joint director of health service, based on which the authorities planned to take stringent action and framed a raid. The raid was conducted and the racket was busted out by a special team of 35 members, headed by a doctor from the Department of Health.

The raid revealed that the quacks were expanding their illegal business by adopting various modus operandi. To mention, a Government Doctor's name and registration number were being misused by an Unani Practitioner for running his clinic for a long time in Konavattam. In another case, a lady was operating a clinic in the name of her spouse, who is a practising doctor.

Shockingly, most of the arrested quacks have previous experience of working as paramedics in private hospitals or as pharmacists and run single-bedroom clinics. These quacks drew a large number of patients by charging a nominal fee as compared to hospital charges.

The revelation alerted the authorities to curb the practice of prescribing medicines without any proper qualification. Citing the grave nature of the crime, the District Collector, Sundram stated that name board and prescription sheets should mandatorily bear the registration number issued by the Indian Medical Council (IMC) to the medical practitioners. Pharmacists and druggists should be directed to stick to these instructions and not dispense medicines if no registration numbers in mentioned on the prescription.

It has been further decided to conduct frequent raids to prevent and curb the menace carried out by quacks that pose serious threats to patient's lives, urging the people to visit primary/urban health centres and Government hospitals for treatment.