SIALKOT-Quackery is causing irreparable loss to the human health while the main reasons behind the quacks' flourishing business are shortage of medicines in the government hospitals, hefty charges of doctors and their rude behaviour towards the patients, admits a medical practitioner.
Kotli Loharan is the largest town of Tehsil Sialkot with over 50,000 people where quackery is the most flourishing business. Most of the quacks are fleecing the people in the guise of medical store keepers
When asked, Dr Jahangir Hussain Qaiser, the in-charge of Rural Health Centre Kotli Loharan, said, "Our hospital has been upgraded to THQ level and 20 posts of Medical Officers have been allocated but no doctor is willing to join the RHC due to its history." He explained that almost all the quacks have pseudo journalistic shelter and they keep giving fake applications against the doctors who join the RHC. The quacks irritate the doctors so much that the latter either go on leave or get themselves transferred from the hospital, he said.
To a question as to why people go to quacks instead of a medical practitioner, he said, "Up to 70 percent ailments are dealt by human body's defensive mechanism itself and we only prescribe supportive medicine in it and a quack somehow knows it. Secondly, a quack's medicine is based on what a patient tells him. He at once prescribes medicine, showing the patient that he is more learned than a doctor who normally diagnoses a patient in 20 minutes."
Moreover, he added, a doctor remained overburdened as he had to check up some 250 patients during the six duty hours therefore, he might had behavioural problems towards the patients what these quacks do not face. "They talk to the patient in street language so they find no barrier with him as compared to a doctor and above all he charges only Rs40 for one day's medicine and check-up which is the biggest reason behind the menace," he said.
He added, "It is seldom that a full prescription becomes available from a government hospital's pharmacy which is common irritant for the patients, resultantly, they prefer a quack who charges minutely and gives complete medicine."
DHO Sialkot Dr Javed Warraich said that he would send teams under the supervision of the deputy DHO to seal the clinics of quacks. He mentioned legal impediments to check quackery, and said, "We have to keep on raiding the quacks as they restart the practice after a few days of the raids."