Amid the stand-off between the State government and doctors over the proposed amendments to the KPME Act, the authorities launched an elaborate crackdown on quacks in H.D. Kote taluk near here following the death of a 16-year-old girl.
While the police has booked a case under Section 304 of the IPC, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, against Raju, an alleged quack, who treated the girl in Hampapura last week, a team of officials from the Department of Health and Family Welfare and police inspected several medical establishments in the taluk and closed three of them.
Ankusha, a resident of Hammaragalli village in the taluk, was suffering from fever and approached Raju, who administered an injection. “The place where she was injected developed a wound. She was taken to different hospitals in Mysuru, where she died on Monday,” a police officer told The Hindu .
As Raju is absconding, police said they are unable to ascertain his qualification and antecedents. “We don’t know whether he is a quack or a qualified doctor,” the police officer said.
However, the Department of Health and Family Welfare officials suspect that Raju is a quack and launched a drive against quacks in the taluk.
Mysuru District Health and Family Welfare Officer Basavarju told The Hindu that they carried out an inspection of the premises run by suspected quacks on Tuesday. “One quack closed down the premises and fled while three other premises have been served with notices and sealed,” he said.
If the establishments were not registered under the KPME Act, they can be closed down, he said. It has been learnt that two of the establishments sealed by the authorities were run by qualified ayurveda practitioners, who were prescribing allopathic medicine.
The authorities had raided two clinics in H.D. Kote town and one each in H.D. Kote hand post and Sargur, according to sources.
