Punjab Healthcare Commission (HCP) has formulated a strategy to eradicate quackery by suggesting lodging criminal cases against quacks and imposing fines worth Rs 500,000, said HCP Chief Executive Dr Ajmal on Tuesday.
He said the commission had started registering all provincial hospitals and clinics and had registered around 200 big hospitals so far.
as there was no Anti-Quackery Act in the country, Ajmal said the commission had power only to order the sealing of quack-clinics while the implementation of the orders was the responsibility DCO’s and EDO’s of areas concerned.
Around 65,000 clinics and hospitals are in Punjab and their immediate registration was not an easy task, he said, adding that it required the collective efforts of the institutions, authorities and agencies concerned.
Furthermore, he said that Punjab had 53,000 qualified doctors and around 200,000 quacks. The mushroom growth of quacks did not take place overnight, but happened due to sheer ignorance since the last 65 years, he added.
However, he said that from May 2013 the commission had started registering the bigger hospitals and clinics.
Sources say that public sector hospitals were offering resistance to the inspection of teams of the HCP while private hospitals and clinics were cooperating with them.