The Capital’s chief district medical officers have been given 90 days by the Directorate of Health Services to list and start taking strict action against quacks operating in the city.
The order was issued after doctors urged the Government to take immediate steps to prevent the common man from falling prey to quacks.
“We feel there is a need for a combined effort on the part of various councils, the police and the doctors to eliminate quacks who are exploiting and playing with the lives of people. Though laws exist to ensure that quacks don’t operate in the city, because of poor implementation of laws there are over 30,000 quacks in Delhi. The aim of the exercise is to weed out quacks effectively and to ensure that they are not able to work here at all,” said Directorate of Health Services director Dr. S. Bhattacharjee.
The decision to go all out against the quacks was taken at a meeting held earlier this week at the Directorate where concerned doctors stated that a motivated and combined effort was required to ensure that quacks are unable to practise in Delhi.
“We have instructed the CDMOs to appoint a nodal officer in their district who is dedicated to dealing with the menace of quacks. We will also be writing to the Delhi police requesting them for their cooperation and assistance when trying to book and close down clinics of these quacks. We have also asked for the support of various councils and brought together all the stakeholders for combined action against them,” said Dr. Bhattacharjee.
“Quacks are a huge problem in the city and the slack laws and lack of coordination between various stakeholders makes the Capital a haven for quacks. Public ignorance about the dangers of going to a quack for treatment is another reason that so many are able to work here,” said DMC member Dr. Anil Bansal.
