A team of officials nabbed a quack on Saturday at Muthukadai in Ranipet. This was in continuation of measures to check on quackery in the district.
Following a complaint, the team from the health and police departments conducted an inspection and nabbed 42-year-old Soundarajan of Vellore for practising medicine without qualification. This was the third arrest of a quack in two months in Vellore district.
N.D. Manimegalai, Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services, Vellore, said he was running a clinic for two to three years, practising allopathy and prescribing/administering drugs and injections for patients.
Officials said there were a number of doctors practising in the locality from where Soundarajan was running the clinic.
"He had put up a board at the clinic and also had a fake MBBS certificate. He had practiced at different places," she said.
Following the complaint, a team consisting of the JD, sub-inspector from Ranipet police station and drugs inspector raided the clinic at about 8 p.m.
A staff of the Health Department had gone inside the clinic in the guise of a patient and the team followed. She said they had checked on his clinic for a few days and found that he did not open it in the morning or afternoon.
"We seized plenty of drugs from the clinic. The police have registered a case and have remanded him," she added.
Ranipet police have registered a case against him on charges of cheating under Indian Penal Code and practising medicine without qualification under Indian Medical Council Act 1956.
Dr. Manimegalai said checks on quacks will continue in the district. Curbing quackery was part of the directorate's regular job function, she noted.
The quack was running a clinic for nearly two to three years at Muthukadai
