Gauhati High Court seeks report on measures taken against quacks in Assam

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The state government prayed before the Gauhati High Court for some more time to furnish reports regarding the measures taken by the Health Department as well as the Home Department against the quacks operating in Assam. The time is also required to apprise the HC whether directions issued by the Director of Health Services in May 2023 have been complied with or not.

The bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam, while hearing the case related to the proliferation of quacks (PIL/34/2023), decided to give two weeks to the state government to come up with the report and reply to the question of compliance.

The HC bench was hearing the PIL filed by petitioner Dr. Abhijit Neog, seeking a direction from the court to order the Health Department to conduct a survey of quacks practicing in Assam and to ensure that they possess the requisite qualifications. The PIL also sought directions from the HC to establish a helpline and form an anti-quackery unit.

It is necessary to state here that quacks are people who do not have any knowledge of the allopathic system of medicine but still practice medicine, mostly in rural areas, with fake credentials. Such fake doctors are, in fact, found to be practicising in Guwahati as well, and one such quack was arrested from the Lal Ganesh area in March this year, and it was later found that he had been falsely posing as a doctor for nearly 40 years.

The Indian Medical Association’s Assam branch is also up in arms against the menace of fake doctors in the state. Though there are no exact statistics, IMA’s state branch said that, according to a survey, 11% of patients die at the hands of fake doctors in Assam.

The writ petition filed in the HC in the form of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) also sought to bring to the notice of the court the serious risk to the life and limb of the residents of the state being caused by a large number of fraudulent persons who are practicing as doctors without the requisite and recognized qualifications and without being registered under the requisite bodies.

In an earlier hearing, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the state Director of Health Services, has already issued directions to the concerned district units to constitute district registration authorities for taking action against quacks operating in Assam. He also submitted that the respondents have not clarified whether the directions issued by the Director of Health Services in May 2023 have been complied with in every district or not.

The HC has now given two weeks’ time to the state government to furnish the report regarding the measures taken by the Health Department as well as the Home Department against the quacks operating in Assam. Also, to reply as to whether the directions issued by the Director of Health Services  have been complied with or not.

Also Read: Assam: Health Department Verifying Degrees of Doctors to Screen Quacks (sentinelassam.com)

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