Quacks play with lives in city

Patients being treated by quacks are not only at the risk of being meted out with “wrong treatment” but also with medicines or injections not stored under the best conditions. At a recently conducted raid in Samalkha area in New Delhi district, clinics run by illegal doctors were found to store sensitive injections in garages instead of refrigerator.

“The quacks are exposing patients not only to wrong treatment but also to injections being randomly stored. We found tetanus injections being stashed away in garage in this heat.

These injections need to be refrigerated at specific temperatures,” said Dr Anil Bansal, member of Delhi Medical Council (DMC) who was a part of the raiding team.

“There are several fake doctors who are practising illegally in the area. There needs to be intensive raids from the Drug Controller to check violations in the way medicines are being stored,” said Dr Bansal.

The raid which was being carried out by the chief district medical officer (CDMO), New Delhi district, also recovered antibiotic injections and allopathic drugs from the clinics. While one clinic was being run by a compounder, another quack who holds an outdated Ayurvedic degree and was found to dispense allopathic drugs agreed to close down the clinic, said a member of the team.

“One quack agreed to shut down the clinic at the spot,” said Dr Bansal.
However, in most cases, the quacks are found to resume the illegal practice within weeks of the raid.

With most quacks receiving information of the raid beforehand, it becomes problematic for doctors conducting raids to trace the clinics.

“The quacks receive a tip-off most of the times. They shut down the clinics and flee. There are no notice boards outside the clinics or address plates which makes it difficult for the raiding team. We have to rely on locals in these cases,” said Dr Bansal.

The CDMO, New Delhi district has planned to intensify raids from next week onwards.