Quacks have a free run, doctors' body upset with Telangana medical council for inaction

HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) drew sharp criticism from a doctors body after it claimed that it was trying its level best to curb the practice of quackery but had no guidelines to file suo motu cases against this.

The council said this in response to a letter shot off by the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) earlier this month asking TSMC what action it had initiated against the quacks, whose details had been furnished to them over the last few months.


"HRDA submitted hundreds of prescriptions of quacks to the TSMC. These were submitted in seven sets of documents with due proofs. But TSMC has not lodged a single FIR or filed any case in respective courts as per the State Registration Act or National Medical Commission Act that does not allow quackery," said Dr K Mahesh Kumar, HRDA president.

Replying to representation, the TSMC said it has taken a serious view of the issue as per instructions of the NMC and even asserted that it has appointed committees to look into the matter. "It called senior doctors from almost all districts and convened a meeting to discuss the issue. TSMC has appointed three-member committees in each district and requested them to watch and report such cases to the police under various sections. All doctors agreed to cooperate," read the reply. When contacted, a TSMC member, meanwhile, said that in two recent cases the body cancelled registration of doctors for a period of three and six months respectively, while scrutiny of other cases is underway.
Their response failed to pacify HRDA members who view the explanation as an excuse by many senior doctors to go soft on quacks. "First it was said that proofs are needed to take action against quacks. Now when we have furnished proofs to show how quacks are prescribing allopathic medicines, injections and high-end antibiotics, there is a delay in initiating action against them. This amounts to encouraging quacks. We are seeing many health issues aggravate like antibiotic resistance due to prescriptions by quacks," said a senior doctor from the Osmania General Hospital.