ISLAMABAD  -   Citizens on Sunday demanded the authorities concerned to take strict action against illegal practice of quacks in rural areas of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. According to them, these quacks had established their clinics in different areas and playing with the health of innocent people.  They said that such quacks are taking advantage of the weak health infrastructure in rural areas and absence of doctors in rural health centres and basic health units, many homeopathic doctors have also started cheating people. Despite the claims made by the authorities of taking action against the quackery, the twin cities are still the victim of quacks, Rasheed Awan, a resident of Bharakho said. He complained these quacks had no degree or knowledge but are running clinics in thickly populated areas just for minting money.   

Another resident of the federal capital, Muhammad Akbar said there are many people holding the degree of homeopathy but are giving allopathic medicines to patients, claiming to be allopathic doctors. “I took my ill mother to a homeopathic doctor who runs his clinic as an allopathic consultant. He gave her wrong medicines which affected both her kidneys instantly, “Yasmeen Akram a resident of Rawalpindi said.

‘’Later, I took my mother to civil hospital where doctors told us that wrong medications had damaged both her kidneys,” she added. Zaheer Azam, a citizen said that once I felt pain in my chest and visited the nearest clinic, where a doctor charged a very low fee. ‘’I got better immediately as he injected a painkiller, after that U became accustomed to painkillers which ultimately turned me into a patient of high blood pressure.

“Dr Sobia Faisal, a medical practitioner said quackery is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the country. She said quackery is one of the reasons behind the spread of Hepatitis C as such quacks use unclean medical instruments in check up processes.

She said that these quacks run their clinics mostly in underdeveloped areas to fool people as they use antibiotics and painkillers to give instant relief to patients against a petty amount. She said their low standard medicines create severe infections while usage of infected equipment leads to the transmission of many communicable diseases among patients.

Chairman National Council for Homeopathy Rawalpind Mehmood ul Haq Abbasi said “We annul the certificates of those homeopathic doctors who do not practice homeopathy and deal patients through allopathic medicines instead.” When contacted, an official of Pakistan Medical and Dentil Council (PMDC) said that the council has been running a countrywide campaign to stop illegal and unlicensed medical practice. He said that quacks are the main source of spreading contagious diseases and are also causing disabilities among the people. He said PMDC would continue its efforts to eliminate the menace of quackery which was playing havoc with the lives of the poor patients in the country.