ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC)’s decision to ask every doctor to get fresh registration number has started to bear fruit as a fake doctor was picked out from Peshawar.

The council took the decision in May this year to curb the issue of quacks in the country.

The PMDC has sent letters to all the provincial secretaries of health to direct their concerned health directorates to check the validity of the PMDC registration certificates of all the doctors and to ensure that the medical practitioners displayed the certificates at their workplaces.

According to an official statement issued by the PMDC on Friday, medical practitioners have started getting registration numbers afresh. An application submitted by a female doctor from Peshawar for the renewal of her registration certificate was found to be fake.

During the verification, it was disclosed that the registration No 6320-N had already been issued to a doctor who is currently running a hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says press release.

All doctors asked to get fresh registration numbers

The PMDC has written to the FIA to initiate an inquiry and take stern action against the fake registration holder.

Dr Amjad Mehmood, the registrar of the PMDC, while talking to Dawn said all over the country a number of quacks had been playing havoc with the health of citizens.

Not only they give smuggled and spurious drugs to patients but because of the use of non-sterilised instruments by them diseases like hepatitis are spreading fast, he added.

“Moreover, quacks suggest high potency drugs due to which the patients face side effects and sometimes their organs like kidneys and livers stop working. As per estimate of the PMDC, about 80,000 quack doctors and dentists with invalid or outdated registrations are working in the country,” he said.

Some doctors were registered in the past but now their registration is not valid so they should also renew their registration, he said.

“Moreover, the provincial health secretaries have been suggested to ensure that every medical or dental practitioner displayed a copy of their registration certificate in their clinics or other workplaces.

Moreover, doctors should mention their registration number in the prescription given to the patients,” he said.

Provinces are also suggested to take action against those medical practitioners who have done only MBBS but claim that they have done specialisation, he said.

Published in Dawn, June 28th , 2014