Karachi As many as 6,00,000 quacks are operating all over the country while 70,000 to 80,000 are present in Karachi alone. This was revealed by Dr Ali Farhan Razi, Chairman Anti-Quackery Committee of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), at the first meeting of the committee to discuss ways and means to initiate a country-wide crackdown against the quacks. The meeting decided to launch an extensive drive against the menace of quackery in line with the directives of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had ordered the PMDC president to initiate action against all those impostors who were playing with the lives of innocent people. The meeting was told that the council had decided to join hands with the district and provincial authorities, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and both electronic and print media to ensure an effective drive against quackery in Pakistan. The council also plans to meet stakeholders in major cities and the first meeting in this regard was held on Saturday in Karachi. Dr Farhan Razi thanked all the participants for their commitment to joining hands against the menace, adding that over 600,000 quacks were operating across the country while one-third of them were present in the Sindh province. Dr Ahmed Nadeem Akbar, Registrar PMDC, informed the gathering that proper health care was every individual’s right under Article 9 of the Constitution and that such a basic right could not be denied to the public on account of unauthorised medial practitioners functioning throughout the country. The PMDC, with the assistance of federal and provincial governments, qualified doctors and the media, would launch a campaign to punish quacks and bring such illegal activities before the law, he added. The members of the anti-quackery committee were told that the chief drug inspector and the drug inspectors were equally responsible to prevent the supply of spurious medicines to the general public. The meeting also called upon the federal and provincial health secretaries to take steps in coordination with the PMDC’s recommendations against quackery and other malpractices in the health sector. Dr Shahnaz, Dr Asad Khan, Dr Ahmed Nadeem Akbar and Dr Ali Farhan Razi also invited suggestions from the people from all walks of life, especially journalists, to identify quacks so that action could be taken against them. The meeting was also attended by Dr Sher Shah Syed, Dr Essa Arain, Dr Aziz Khan Tank among others.
