Fight against Quackery: 10 quacks caught red-handed by Telangana State Medical Council

Hyderabad: In its continuous battle to eradicate quackery in the state of Telangana, the State Medical Council recently conducted raids at fake clinics in Shamshabad and Shadnagar area and identified around 10 quacks who were practising allopathy medicine without valid medical degrees.  

During the raid, the anti-quackery committee of Telangana Medical Council (TSMC) found that these quacks did not have an MBBS degree to treat patients and some of the quacks who were caught did not even have class 10 pass qualifications. 

Moreover, it was also found that the quacks prescribed and administered drugs which are only performed by expert doctors. The quacks irrationally administered the drugs to the patients without any knowledge regarding the potential risks linked to incorrect dosages.

Also read- TSMC's Quackery Crackdown: 3 quacks caught running cosmetic clinics

These quacks were caught red-handed when they failed to provide valid documents related to their education qualification and registration certificates of the clinics being run by them. 

This level of medical practice goes against the National Medical Commission (NMC) regulations. According to Section 34 of the NMC Act, one who is not enrolled in the State Register or the National Register is not entitled to sign or authenticate a medical or fitness certificate or any other certificate that is required by any law to be signed by a duly qualified medical practitioner or entitled to give evidence at any inquest or in any court of law as an expert under section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 on any matter relating to medicine.

Speaking in this regard, Chairman of TGSMC, Dr Mahesh Kumar told Deccan Chronicle, “We found many antibiotic and corticosteroid injections which are supposed to be administered only by experts. These fake doctors are prescribing scheduled drugs irrationally to patients which is quite harmful to health and can cause complications like spine deformity, fertility issues in women and add to antimicrobial resistance."

“Antimicrobial resistance and steroid-induced immunity effects are major global threats in these times. As per NMC Acts 34 and 54 any person who prescribes scheduled drugs or gives injections or practices modern medicine other than first aid is a cognisable offence punishable up to 1 year imprisonment and Rs 5 lakh fine," said Vice-Chairman, Dr Srinvivas Gundagani. 

Till now, the council has raided and identified 100 clinics run by non-qualified medical practitioners in the area. The total number of non-qualified practitioners caught by TSMC has risen to 300. 

Also read- Crackdown on Quacks: Telangana Medical Council raid three clinics in Karimnagar