Apart from the penal provisions under the Medical Council Act, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) punishes quacks under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 420 (cheating) and Section 416 (impersonation). section 18C (sale of drugs without licence).
With the number of quacks on the rise, endangering the lives of unsuspecting people, Tiruvannamalai District Collector has ordered the health officials to recommend the authorities concerned to book the repeat offenders under Goonda Act.(30th.jan,2017).
The laws that do
exist are full of loopholes- for example, Section 15(3) of the Indian Medical
Council Act, 1956, mentions a punishment of imprisonment which may extend to
one year or a fine which may extend to Rs 1,000 or both. The lacuna here being
that if the punishment is up to 1 year, the person can get a bail immediately
from the police station. Even the prescribed fine fails to cause deterrence as
they have not been revised to keep up with inflation rates. Rs. 1,000 which was
a large amount back in 1956 is an easy sum in modern times.
Apart from the penal
provisions under the Medical Council Act, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC)
punishes quacks under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy),
Section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 420 (cheating) and Section 416 (impersonation). The Delhi High Court convicted a quack under Section 304 of
the IPC for the administration of wrong medicines to a
9-month-old baby which ultimately led to his death.
Addressing the media
on the National Medical Commission Bill, 2019, Union
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had assured that a more severe punishment will be attached
to quackery, enhancing it to up to 1-year imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹5 lakhs. As a result,
Section 34 was incorporated in the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 which
prescribes a punishment of imprisonment for a term which may extend to 1 year
and fine which may extend to Rs. 5 lakhs or both if any person who is not
enrolled in the State or National Register, practices medicine. However, it
does not explicitly condemn the offence of quackery which allows people to
misconstrue this provision.
Complete apathy on
the part of the government to eradicate quackery can be seen through their inaction to take heed of the Anti-Quackery Bill presented
by the Indian Medical Association and the Medical Council of India. Instead,
the government has shown an open inclination towards meeting rural health requirements through unqualified
health professionals.
Neither has there been any official survey on quacks undertaken by the government nor has any action been taken against the fake medical institutions distributing fake medical degrees.
In 2003, the Delhi Government notified that they are studying the anti-quackery bill but
with no such Act passed as of 2020, it can be concluded that the process has
been abandoned.
what should be done?
The government should carry out a nation-wide survey on quacks followed by the passage of a stringent Act against quackery. It is essential that a separate Act is passed for this cause since it brings the disregarded crime of quackery under the spotlight. Offenders of this crime being tried under a separate legislation proves the gravity of the offence and makes the law-enforcing authorities more vigilant.
The existing laws in the Medical Council Act, 1965 have already proven to be ineffective and the IPC is tailored more for dealing with conventional crimes such as rape, murder, robbery, etc. However, quackery is a socio-economic offence, that is, it affects the health and morals of the people of a country. As such they are tended to be ignored since they seemingly do not pose a threat to the society. Thus, to bring them to the notice of the public, it is essential that the Government passes a separate law in this regard since a crime which starts as a means of earning easy money for someone ends in the death of another. The existence of an independent Act on quackery shall drive home the point that it is indeed an offence serious enough to have substantive penal provisions exclusive to it.
In addition to a separate Act, focus should
also be on investment in Government hospitals and establishment of authentic
medical camps comprising qualified doctors in all the remote and quack-prone
areas. It is time that the Government looks into this socio-economic problem
and effectively curbs it before it destroys or claims any more lives.
state and central IMA FIGHTING SINCE 3DECADES on political and judiciary front. various high courts and the supreme court issued prohibitive orders and directed state and central govts to curb the quackery and arrest the quacks. During my tenure as state general secretary in the year 2008-09, we filed a case in AP highcourt and succesfully got prohibitive orders. But no govt or police(except few police authorities like sri.sajjanar&mahesh bhagavath) implement the existing orders.
unless common man (who got injured or got spoiled his health with quackery) or any NGO file a PIL and took the fight to logical end, its an uphill task to curb the quackery.
so,the fight for quackery free health care must goes on....
Every IMA MEMBER,WHEN EVER HE/SHE finds a prescription of a quack or ayush person prescribing modern medicines,can send a complaint to APMC registrar and local police and DMHO. Its also advisable to file a complaint through the branch or district crisis committee. this is the minimum thing we do in our fight against quackery&mixopathy.
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