The Yeroor police have intensified the search for a quack who endangered the life of a four-year-old boy by prescribing medicines that contained mercury much above the permissible limit.
The boy developed serious health issues and was first admitted to a private hospital at Anchal and then shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, when his condition worsened.
The quack, known as Laxman Raj, had reportedly distributed the toxic medicine to more than 100 patients in Yeroor, Anchal and Kulathupuzha. The boy was under treatment for a skin disease.
“So far we have received only one complaint, but we spoke to many patients. The address and other contact details he gave them turned out to be fake and most probably Laxman Raj will be just one of his aliases. At present all we have is an assumption that he may be a resident of Andhra Pradesh or Telangana,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the Health Department and Drugs Control Department have initiated a probe into the incident. A team of officials on Monday visited the patients who have been taking medicine prescribed by the quack.
