The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Quacks abound in city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 17, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Quacks abound in city

Sahana Charan

There are around 15,000 `healers' operating in Bangalore

TALL CLAIMS: This tent near Kalidasa Circle in the city promises cure for various ailments. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Bangalore: A person who promised that he could cure people of HIV/AIDS with coconut shell oil recently ended up on the wrong side of the law after officials from the Drugs Control Department raided his premises and confiscated "medicines" and pamphlets.

On busy streets, stalls with banners promise alternative treatment for all kinds of ailments. Every day, such "healers" dupe hundreds of people. People, who choose to go to them because of the stigma associated with certain diseases, may run the risk of major health complications or even death.

According to the Anti-Quackery Cell of Indian Medical Association (Bangalore branch), there are around 15,000 quacks operating in the city and more than 80,000 in the State, who claim to do everything from Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) to curing people of HIV/AIDS. Many of these quacks market their services as Ayurvedic or Siddha system of medicine, though it may not be so, taking people for a ride.

The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, prohibits advertising and propaganda of services for cure of particular diseases which are listed under the Act. "But these so-called healers openly advertise their dubious services and charge a premium from the unsuspecting public," said a medical doctor.

The Act lists as many as 54 ailments including HIV/AIDS, plague, obesity, appendicitis, blindness, impotence, sterility in women, diseases related to the female reproductive organs, paralysis, venereal diseases and mental illness.

But the provisions of the Act are violated every day. Till now, the Drugs Control Department, which is the regulating body for implementing the Act, has managed to book cases against only two people even though there are hundreds of such fraudsters operating in the city.

One such case was that of a person from Tamil Nadu who used to come and stay in the city once a month and advertise in major language publications. Posing as a medical practitioner, he would prescribe an aphrodisiac to people who came to him with their problems.

"Since such people operate clandestinely and as their services are mostly fly-by-night, it is very difficult to trap them," said drug control authorities.

Prabha Kumar, Deputy Drugs Controller, said that the department had launched a campaign to implement the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act with a view to booking such people.

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