PESHAWAR: The Young Doctors Association (YDA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has demanded of the provincial government to make its healthcare commission functional and take effective action against quacks and non-professional people across the province. It warned to start an agitation if the action was not completed within a month.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, YDA provincial spokesman Dr Siraj Khan said that the government had taken measures to resolve the issue of shortage of doctors and also increased salaries to ensure their presence on duty in far-flung areas. However, he said that the number of quacks was increasing day by day and they needed to be stopped from playing with lives of people.

Accompanied by Dr Rizwan Kundi, Dr Saadat, Dr Aftab and others, Dr Siraj said that many patients had died due to wrong treatment by such non-professional people. He said that sometimes the disease was incurable, but because of their lack of knowledge the quacks rarely referred them to major hospitals for treatment.

He recalled that a fake doctor was caught in Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar, a few days ago, which had led to a discussion about presence of quacks even in the government hospitals.

The association president appreciated the people for pinpointing quacks during a campaign in Peshawar. He said that the campaign should be expanded to other parts of the province.

He said that a committee had been constituted to probe into the fake doctor’s case in HMC, but regretted that the inquiry was withdrawn later without citing any reasons. He demanded revival of the committee to complete the inquiry.

The health authorities, he said, should collect data of deaths and complications recorded during the stay of the fake doctor in HMC so as to bring the responsible people to justice. He said that if their demands were not accepted the YDA would launch a protest movement across the province.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2017