ISLAMABAD: The district health department on Monday sealed six fake clinics in Bhara Kahu and registered cases against their managers.

Senior Drug Inspector Sardar Shabbir Ahmed conducted raids on various clinics operating in Bhara Kahu (Dhoke Mohrian) in response to complaints received from residents of the area.

He said several clinics were sealed and their record has been called for further inspection.

He said all the clinics were using substandard drugs and injecting non-sterile injections to patients.

They were also keeping and selling huge quantity of allopathic drugs without licence. One clinic was run by a woman who posed as a doctor.

Meanwhile, the residents expressed concern over the weak health infrastructure in the rural areas.

Mohammad Anees said there were many people who possessed a degree in homeopathy but were prescribing patients allopathic medicines, by posing as allopathic doctors.

“I took my mother to a doctor who claimed to be an MBBS physician. However, he was originally a homeopathic doctor. He gave her wrong medicines which affected her kidneys,” Sadia Babar a resident of G-13 said.

“Later, I took my mother to Pims where doctors told us that wrong medications had damaged her kidneys,” she added.

Raja Waheed, a resident of G-11, said once he felt pain in his chest and visited a nearby clinic. He gave him an injection after which he started feeling better. Whenever he felt pain, he was administered the same injection and this led to an addiction to painkillers. Ultimately he became a patient of high blood pressure.

When contacted, an official of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) said the council had been running countrywide campaign to stop illegal and unlicensed medical practice.

PMDC will continue its efforts to eliminate the menace of quackery which was playing havoc with the lives of the poor patients, he added.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019