LAHORE: Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) Operating Officer (COO) Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan has alleged that doctors are responsible for rampant quackery at private hospitals and laboratories across the province.
In an interview with APP here on Sunday, he said that doctors patronise and operate illegal hospitals and fake laboratories in most cases, despite the fact that the PHC had sealed 17,170 such clinics and labs since July 2015 and made them follow the PHC guidelines on minimum service delivery standards.
Talking about the factors which help quackery flourish, he said that dearth of qualified pathologists, radiologists, gynaecologists and anaesthetists in laboratories, decreasing number of general practitioners (GPs) at hospitals and absence of quality medical services in certain areas contribute to rise of quackery.
He said that qualified pathologists and gynaecologists were too small in numbers to meet the lab needs.
They are hesitant to work in small cities while the GPs pursue specialisation to become consultant doctors, causing dearth of doctors.
About the laboratories, Dr Ajmal claimed that a large number of fake laboratories operate in connivance with qualified doctors, adding that doctors even compromise on human lives for the sake of money.
“There are only three pathologists in Kasur city, but 30 different laboratories are operating there,” he added, claiming that no gynaecologist was available during the past 3-4 years in southern Punjab city of Rajanpur.
The condition of labs was even worse in smaller cities where there are almost no pathologists or gynaecologists, adding that quack dentists are the main reason behind the spread of hepatitis C.
The PHC chief admitted the fact that strict standards had not been promulgated on laboratories equipment.
However, he added, the PHC was working to improve standards at labs and dental clinics and hospitals in the public and private sectors now.
The civil-servant-turned doctor said the toughest regulatory regime was destined to fail in the long-term if medical services to masses were not ensured, adding that quacks filled the gaps where quality health services were missing and the cities like Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib and Narowal were home to a criminal trade of quackery.
About remedies, he said that access to healthcare facilities was a must to eliminate quackery, adding that there was a need to increase the number of seats of anaesthetists, pathologists and radiologists at the medical universities with certain incentives to bridge the gap of qualified pathologists etc., at labs.
About the PHC achievements, he said that the Commission had achieved minimum service delivery standards for hospitals, clinics and doctors including hakeems and homeopaths, adding that the PHC had registered 52,749 hospitals and labs in the public and private sectors and issued licences to 35,224, while the anti-quackery cell (AQC) of the PHC had visited 68,000 small or big centres.
He said that the PHC was the first institution to regulate hakeems and homeopath clinics.
Acknowledging the role of the apex court, he said that the PHC had successfully ensured management of hospital waste at public and private hospitals.
He said the PHC had also regulated anti-drug centres to a great extent and 37 clinics had been sealed.
About stents, Dr Ajmal said there were no new complaints about the quality of stents as the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had taken good care of the matter, adding that the complaints were about pricing only.
Dr Ajmal said that the PHC was all set to regulate pricing for private hospitals by 15th of December as per the apex court directions, adding that it was easy to set pricing for the top-level consultant clinics, but an uphill task to regulate pricing for the general practitioner clinics.
Regarding independent physiotherapy practices, the PHC chief said that the unsupervised physiotherapy practice was quackery since there was no physiotherapy council in the country.
