Doctors to turn actors,to crack down on quacks

Titled Bachke Rehna Re Baba,the play will caution people against the dangers of quackery. “The stroy revolves around a few patients who seek treatment from quacks and the problems they face. We show a quack who is trying to give saline drips to a patient and then leaving it midway as he does not know how to complete the procedure. We have used humour to drive home a very serious message,” says Dr. Khushale. The play also focuses on educating patients to identify quacks. “It is compulsory for general practitioners to display their degrees in clinics. We are trying to tell people on how to identify fake degrees,” says IMA’s Mumbai branch president Dr. Shivkumar Utture. The 15-minute play will be staged between 3.00-6.30 pm by 15 doctors Saturday.

Recently,the BMC had lodged FIRs against 50 fake doctors practising in the city. The state government lodged 51 FIRs against bogus doctors in Osmanabad district today,of which 44 have been arrested and eight are absconding.

“Fake doctors have long been a problem in the state but officials woke up after Munir Khan’s arrest in October 2009,” says an IMA member. “In fact,authorities are still not acting swiftly or stringently. We know several quacks who continue practising,despite getting BMC notices and facing police inquiries.”

“In Mumbai,there have been cases of fake doctors being let off by cops after questioning,” says a BMC official of the health department. Doctors attribute this to the lack of a stringent anti-quackery law. “Now,a fake doctors may face imprisonment up to Tone year and imposition of a fine of Rs 1000. Those who play with people’s lives deserve to be reprimanded more strongly. The IMA has been lobbying for this for the past many years,but to no effect,”says Dr. Utture.