The Arunachal government has constituted a Joint Ethics Committee to effectively curb the menace of quacks practicing medicine and keep a check on medical malpractices in the state.

Unqualified practitioners who pose as qualified doctors and administer potentially dangerous treatments to patients—so called quacks—are numerous throughout India. An Indian Supreme Court ruling in 1996 defines anyone practising modern medicine without training in the discipline, even if they are trained in alternative systems of medicine such as ayurveda, as quacks or charlatans.

Lack of enough physicians and doctors not wanting to practise in rural areas because of the lack of critical infrastructure has resulted in acute shortage of healthcare givers in remote pockets. Most of the primary health centres in rural Arunachal are being run by a nurse or compounder. Not trained, they are however functioning as pseudo doctors or more rightly ‘quacks’.

The World Health Organization specifies an ideal ratio of one doctor to every 1,000 people in low-income countries: India has one for every 1,700. It is even worse if you aren’t in a city, for only 20% of them work in rural areas. 

Rather than mocking, berating and clamping down on them, why not plan to harness them. Why not teach rural practitioners the basics of medicine, from human anatomy to pharmacology, giving them the theoretical knowledge that they lack. Why not equip them with the skills to treat acute cases of common illnesses, and, crucially, help them judge when their patients need to see real doctors.

Although there have been no India-wide surveys to estimate the number of such unqualified doctors, regional surveys indicate that more than 70% of healthcare providers in rural India have no formal medical training. For the rural masses however these untrained men and women are their first line of defence against illness. They fill a void in India’s healthcare system that cannot be ignored.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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