KARACHI: Sharing their concerns over how rampant quackery in the province has seriously jeopardised public health, speakers at a seminar have demanded that the government implement the Sindh Healthcare Commis­sion Act, 2013, which includes all relevant clauses to end quackery and regulate healthcare facilities.

The seminar, titled ‘Quackery in Sindh’, was organised by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) in collaboration with Help­line Trust here on Wednesday.

The programme started off with a presentation on the subject by Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro. He explained that unchecked quackery had greatly contributed to the spread of diseases as well as to the havoc caused by drug resistance.

Sharing some statistics, he said: “A survey conducted in 2014 showed there are about 200,000 quacks in the country, one third of which, between 70,000 and 80,000, are operating in Karachi.”

Around 70,000 to 80,000 quack doctors are operating in Karachi

Referring to PMA’s efforts, he said that the association’s anti-quackery committee was able to identify some quacks but found that the fake doctors were registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

He held government institutions, the PMDC, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, media and non-government organisations responsible for the situation.

“Media run all kinds of health advertisements without inquiring about the credentials of health practitioners and status of healthcare facilities. We have also seen that some NGOs recruit quacks to conduct surveys,” he observed.

He called for a scientific approach towards health issues, emphasising the need for collecting data on quackery.

“We all need to raise voice against this menace. The government must enforce anti-quackery laws and regulations without wasting more time,” he concluded.

Alarming rise in public health challenges

A number of doctors participated in the discussion and there was a general consensus that public health challenges had increased multiple times mainly on account of government neglect towards provision of basic health facilities and lack of enforcement of law.

These challenges, they pointed out, included increased quackery, mushroom growth of substandard healthcare facilities, diagnostic laboratories and blood banks.

PMA secretary general Dr Qaiser Sajjad talked about the risks involved in common public practices, for instance ear and nose piercing, and underlined the need for creating awareness.

“People generally don’t know that they could contract serious infection through infected needles. Besides, the practice of applying the used equipment on other patients is quite common among quacks,” he said.

Sharing concern on antimicrobial resistance, Dr Sajjad said drug misuse was a common practice among quacks and a major factor contributing to drug resistance.

“Diseases, for instance typhoid and tuberculosis, easily curable through regular medicines, are difficult to manage if their specific germs develop resistance against drugs.

“In cases of drug resistance, treatment becomes costly, prolonged and negatively affects not only the patient but the whole family. And, we know that cases of drug resistance have become quite common,” he observed.

Former PMA president Dr Shaukat Malik was of the opinion that 50 per cent increase in diseases especially hepatitis was linked to quackery.

“There is an alarming situation and we are actually sitting on a time bomb. Doctors are unable to treat an increasing number of patients with regular medicines due to drug resistance. Consequently, they have to use costly third and fourth generation medicines,” he said.

He regretted slow pace of government on the issue and said if it continued with the same laid back attitude, public health crisis would worsen. There was an immediate need to set up task forces checking quackery in every nook and corner of the province and “there is no hope unless work is done on a war-footing basis”.

Open quackery

Dr Jaipal Chhabria, a senior consultant eye surgeon, referred to the Ran­chhore Line area where a whole market was being run by quacks offering solutions to different health problems.

He questioned the state authority, regretting that poor patients mishandled by these quacks often turned to doctors after damaging their health and wasting resources.

The audience was also informed about a mobile phone application currently being developed which could help them know whether their consulting doctor, hakim or homeopath was registered with their respective councils and authorised to practice.

A pertinent point raised during the programme was related to doctors’ high fees that forced many patients to compromise their health and opt for non-qualified doctors offering their “services” at a much lesser fee.

Advisor to the Chief Minister on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab also attended the event.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018