Quackery, a serious public health hazard, is a thriving business in this country. While presiding, during a recent visit to Peshawar, over a three-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing different cases of public interest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was informed by the provincial Healthcare Commission Chairman that fake doctors were running around 15,000 clinics in the province. Giving a well-deserved dressing down to the official, the CJ directed him to prepare a detailed report on these clinics and shut them down within a week.
It is pertinent in the context to recall here the example of Punjab. It's been a while since a ban was slapped on anyone providing health service without registration with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Council for Tibb, or the Council for Homoeopathy. An anti-quackery complaints cell was also established to check violators. In an initial crackdown, nearly a thousand quack clinics were sealed, but the resolve to fully implement the ban did not last long. Many quacks also found a way around the prohibition, using the names of qualified doctors. As the CJP discovered a few days ago, during a similar suo motu notice case proceedings in Lahore, the illegal activity goes on unabated. There, too, he gave the provincial authorities seven days to arrest all quacks and submit a report of the record before the court. Which is a very welcome intervention, effective compliance though also requires regular monitoring.
The situation in Sindh and Balochistan is not any better, if not worse. Paramedics, dispensers, even individuals totally unrelated to healthcare calling themselves doctors have been playing havoc with lives, prescribing medicines to unsuspecting people in need of professional attention also carrying out all sorts of tests, even medical procedures on them. They also freely reuse syringes, contributing to the rise in communicable diseases, such as hepatitis-C. Yet the people go to them because there are not enough proper health centres to cater to their needs, and also because of ignorance about the dangers involved. The worst sufferers are those living in rural areas. Patients have to travel long distances, in some instance, for hundreds of miles, to receive qualified medical practitioners' attention. The CJP's effort to right this glaring wrong is important in highlighting the issue. But given the abject state of healthcare affairs, enforcement exercises - half-hearted and periodic - alone will not resolve the problem. The provincial governments need to step up and fulfil their responsibility to provide health facilities to all. Also needed is a sustained awareness campaign to educate the people about risks of seeking medical help from pretend doctors.