KARACHI: The menace of quackery, or dishonest claims to being qualified for medical practice, is on the rise in Sindh including Karachi, especially in slums due to ignorance of the public, shortage of qualified doctors, rude attitude of practitioners with poor people and low governance in the province.
Talking to media, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) senior leader Dr Mirza Ali Azhar said that the public’s illiteracy, poverty and ignorance, and authorities’ aloof attitude encourage quacks (fake doctors) to keep operating without fear in the province.
He informed that ratio of quacks is much higher in rural areas, urban slums and katchi abadis as compared to the city areas.
He said quacks are misleading the public through advertising, appearing on different channels and other ways while thousands of people have become victims of these so-called doctors’ deceit.
“There are over 700,000 quack clinics and maternity homes in Pakistan, out of which 250,000 are based in Sindh”, he added.
He further informed that according to Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), there are about 200,000 registered general practitioners and specialists in Pakistan, but these doctors are not enough to cater to the needs of the country’s population. As a result, quacks have mushroomed in different parts of the country, especially rural areas and urban slums of Sindh province.
He said that it was high time for provincial governments to come to people’s rescue from organized quackery, and that PMA would extend its help to the government in this regard.
He demanded of the federal and provincial authorities concerned to educate people about the menace of quackery, increase the strength of qualified doctors in rural & urban slums and launch a crackdown on quacks to eliminate this menace from the society.
When contacted by media, Karachi Health Services Director Dr Muhammad Taufiq said that health officers have neither the manpower nor legal authority to shutdown quack clinics and illegal maternity homes in Karachi.
He said that District Health Officers (DHO) regularly visit the rural areas and slums of Karachi to check this malpractice, but they have no power to register even an FIR against them, adding that the situation would be improved with proper functioning of Sindh Healthcare Commission throughout the province.
