Health sleuths plan fresh hunt for quacks!

THE HEALTH Department has planned a fresh drive against the quacks in the city.

The drive includes the medical clinics, private doctors, pathology laboratories and nursing homes.

Says the deputy chief medical officer Dr UK Gupta, “there are thousands of doctors working in Lucknow and we have only a couple of hundreds registered with us. The number of pathologies and nursing homes is far less than what is with us.”

He said in the light of the difference of figures a drive was essential so that quacks could be nabbed. A report on the number of quacks working in the city was published in HT Live on April 14.

“Only the doctors registered with us would be allowed to do private practice whether they work individually at clinics or at a hospital,” Dr Gupta says.

As per the officials every doctor must have a registration with the office of the chief medical officer to practise in any city. This has to be done even if one has got the registration with the Medical Council of India (MCI) or the State Medical Council (SMC).

More so names of the doctors working at the hospitals should also be registered through the hospital authorities and mere registration of the hospital was not enough for the doctors to work there without registration.

“We have decided to give time to doctors till May 15. Those who are still not registered with us may get the registration done after which separate teams of the departments would raid the nursing homes, private clinics and pathology labs,” he said.

Focus would also be on the ultrasound centres that number 254 in the books but are much more in reality in the city. According to an estimate there are at least 6000 quacks working in the city.