Last month, the Health Department closed down a ‘clinic’ at Kottakkal in Malappuram district where two natives of West Bengal, who had not even passed Class 10, were offering ‘treatment’ for piles using grease and ‘vanaspati’. Soon after, the District Medical Officer took action against someone offering ‘cardiac treatment’ from a two-storeyed house near Vengara in the same district. A self-styled naturopath in Kollam, who enjoys a huge fan following on social media, was asked to stop his ‘medical’ practice too.
Online support
Though the Department claims it is well within its rights to curb such practices, the popularity of people claiming to be ‘traditional medical practitioners’ seems to be on the rise as their followers continue to drum up online and offline support for the fake healers.
Ayurveda physicians, who have filed complaints against such people, claim that unscrupulous individuals are cheating people in the name of traditional medicine. G. Vinod Kumar, president, Ayurveda Medical Association of India, said that only those qualified as per the Indian Medicine Central Council Act were allowed to practice traditional medicine in the country. “Superstitious practices are gaining ground and people follow advertisements and claims made on the social media. Ayurvedic medicines are being consumed without consulting doctors,” he pointed out.
Dr. Vinod said his association had taken several such “traditional practitioners” to court.
The Department, however, is not taking any chance and there had been a crackdown on illegal medical practitioners in Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta districts too.
R.L. Saritha, Director, Health Services, said that district medical officers were authorised to take action against those posing a threat to public health standards, including individuals and organisations conducting campaigns against immunisation. Practices such as ‘Prophet’s medicine’ too were under scanner, she added.
In Kollam
Meanwhile, supporters of the self-styled naturopath claimed that he himself never prescribed medicines in the clinic in Kollam and that two registered Ayurveda medical practitioners made the prescriptions. Sources in the DMO’s office said there were chances of the clinic being reopened as the department didn’t have any evidence to prove that he had prescribed medicines. “We have recommended to the grama panchayat to re-open the clinic with a condition that he will not be allowed to prescribe medicines. Even if he does that, we may not be able to prove it as it will be in the names of doctors employed by him,” the sources added.
V.G. Pradeep Kumar, State president, Indian Medical Association, while welcoming the crackdown, said the organisation was planning a State-wide awareness campaign from September on the issue. “It is a paradox that people in a highly literate State are being subjected to such irrational things. It will pull our society backwards. We are planning regional seminars and workshops in association with residents’ associations and schools,” he said.
