KARACHI - As quackery is considered billions of rupee industry, thriving under the nose of government, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has stepped up to find out the roots and causes to eliminate menace by organising a seminar on anti-quackery on Wednesday.

Though the seminar could not find out the loopholes that help run the business, but it has significant as all stakeholders including government representative, senior medics, owner of private practitioners have participated the event.

In his speech, chairman of Sindh Healthcare Commission Dr Tipu Sultan blame the government that since the independence no one is interested to revisit the healthcare reforms.

“We put only 0.7 percent of total GDP to our healthcare, so how it is possible, people get quality healthcare?” he asked.

He further pointed out that even we have not clean drinking water at our tap, there are piles of garbage, our children are dying due to malnutrition and government seems helpless to increase the health budget.

“There are different challenges which need to be addressed, if want to eliminate the menace of the society,” he suggested, adding “We just need political will.”

He added that Healthcare Commission is not regulatory body, we are responsible for checking the quality of healthcare, but it is responsibility of government to provide quality health to all citizens of the country. He briefly pointed out that “Till yet, we have registered 4,500 doctors and the process is still going on.”

Dr Raza Gardizi who runs private NGO while talking to The Nation during the seminar said that there are different qualified doctors, who also involved in malpractices, whose can be identified as “qualified quackery.”

The modus operandi of these qualified quakes are: “They give the permission to the quackes to place their nameplates on their hospital, so that they could not be arrested by Healthcare Commission.

“Can I ask, who is able to eliminate this quackery?” he asked.

When asked this question from Mirza Ali Azhar, former General Secretary of PMA, he accepted that the law should be stricter so that we can find out the loopholes of system.

“We accept the anti-quackery law is weak and quacks should be charged on criminal basis,” he suggested.

Dr Qaiser Sajjad,in his inaugural speech informed that 80,000 quack’s dens are functional in Karachi, while 0.6 millions are operational in Sindh. The Lahore also faces same fate as 40,000 quackery dens are established there.

He said that many fake doctors are running den by registering themselves to Pakistan Medical Dental Council (PMDC) with fake names, which should also be accountable.

He pointed out that Pharmaceutical companies are helpful to increase the quackery in our country.

Dr Syed Hashim of PMA said that in order to eliminate quackery, the PMA has all set to introduce mobiles APPs.

He said though these APPs, we may help to counter quackery business in the province as people by simply putting the clinic name and doctors names, could be find that these are real doctors or quakes.

Dr Ismail Memon of PMA-Karachi further pointed out that that the quackery business is being run at front doors of all big hospitals.

“There are several blood banks and pathological labs are functioning independently without registering themselves to PMDC.

In his chief guest speech, Murtaza wahab, advisor to CM said that we are here to rectify the problems to eliminate the quackery and in this case doctors and government are on same page.

“Believe me government would take all initiatives,” he assured.