LAHORE   -  The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has sealed 154 quackery centres in 25 cities in a crackdown on quacks across the province during the last two weeks. According to a PHC spokesperson on Sunday, action was taken on all types of quackery centres, which included quacks posing as general physicians, non-compliant laboratories, maternity homes run by unqualified physicians, hakeems and homoeopathic doctors using allopathic medicines, opticians, fake dentists and others.

The teams, along with the local police, raided 1,345 treatment centres as per the census. Out of those, 387 quacks were found to have either changed their businesses or closed down their centres. The PHC also put 764 centres under surveillance since they were being operated under the supervision of qualified medics. Among the closed-down outlets, 12 were in Lahore, Kasur and Sialkot each, 11 were in Sheikhupura and Okara each, and 10 were in Multan and Gujranwala each. In Lahore, Shabbir Pehalwan, Lachianwalla Hadi Jorr, Cheema Clinic, Chacha Aslam Dandan Saaz, Sibtain Afzal Dental Master, Abdul Rauf Clinic, Ijaz Clinic, Hassan Homoeopathic Clinic, Azhar Clinic, Fiaz Medical Store, Shakeel Clinic and Ali Dental Clinic were sealed.