Quack, quack

The rise and rise of “Dr” R.K. Gupta — which the Express has traced in a special series — is as much a comment on the state of India’s healthcare as it is a pointer to the desperation of gullible people in the pursuit of quick cures. What is interesting about this particular story is that it would probably not even have reached the public sphere if an NRI patient had not happened to get embroiled in Gupta’s operations.

And therein hangs a tale. The difference was that the members of the Canada-based Chowdhury family had rational expectations from the healthcare system. They would not submit to the mindless ingestion of pink pills without asking questions about what they contained, the course of treatment recommended, the qualifications of the doctors attending on them, and so on. These, one would imagine, are fairly regular questions that any patient would and should ask — especially since those pink pills actually turned out to contain substances that were banned or controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The point is that the faceless hundreds that thronged Gupta’s famed Neeraj Clinic in Rishikesh over the years did not ask these questions. As a result of their illiteracy, their blind veneration of doctors, their frantic search for a quick cure for a distressing condition like epilepsy, they allowed Gupta to carry on with his quackery for over 20 years — years that made him a crorepati several times over.

But they had the excuse of their ignorance. What about the authorities? The local administration, the state government, the Medical Council of India? Why did it require the Chowdhurys to expose the man? How was he allowed to fleece, dupe and possibly poison thousands of patients over the years? How was he allowed to set up a dental college and run a luxury hotel without serious questions being asked about his activities? How many more “Dr” Guptas continue to proliferate in this manner, unhindered, nay, venerated, by society? Irrational drug use and unscrupulous medical practitioners make a killing combination. At a time when healthcare is getting increasingly privatised, there is an urgent need for better self-regulation among medical professionals, a greater alacrity on the part of the authorities to track down those innumerable “Dr” Guptas and bring them to justice and greater awareness among people about their rights as consumers of healthcare.