BAJAUR: The authorities in Bajaur tribal district on Saturday arrested four quacks and sealed their illegal clinics.

A statement issued here by the deputy commissioner’s office said that the unskilled and unqualified practitioners, commonly known as quacks, were arrested from different areas of the district during an action conducted jointly by the district administration and local health department.

A team led by district health officer Dr Faisal and assistant commissioner Fazal Raheem has launched the action following complaints that scores of quacks were playing with the people’s lives in the name of medical treatment.

It said the team members visited scores of clinics and medical stores in several bazaars of Khar tehsil and checked their legal status. During the visit, the officials rounded up four quacks for not having any qualifications to run a clinic and provide treatment to the people.

The statement said the accused were sent to jail while their outlets would be sealed for unidentified period. It said the operation would be extended to rural parts of the district as per the provincial government’s directives.

Meanwhile, scores of people associated with medicine business raised concerns over the district administration’s action. They said that taking such an action was the job of drug inspectors and not the administration.

ROAD MISHAP: At least nine members of Tableeghi Jamaat and a driver were injured when a vehicle they were travelling in overturned in the hilly Manoo locality of Salarzai tehsil here on Saturday, said villagers and rescue officials.

They said the wounded were taken to the district headquarters hospital, Khar, by a group of local residents. Doctors at the hospital said that condition of all the injured was out of danger.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2021