BHAWANIPATNA: A good number of people have queued up outside the clinic of Asim Ghosh at Madanpur village in Kalahandi district. The doctor’s table has a pile of allopathic medicines along with visiting cards of medicine representatives. The shelves in the wall are also stocked with allopathy medicines.Ghosh examines patients one after another and writes prescriptions for the different ailments that he diagnoses. It is business as usual for any doctor’s clinic but to the knowledgeable eye, a laminated certificate displayed prominently on the wall behind his chair gives the game away.
The certificate of registration is issued by the Indian Board of Alternative Medicine, Kolkata under which the practitioner cannot prescribe allopathic medicines. Moreover, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) under Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, had in 2014 declared that courses being offered by the Board are not recognised or affiliated by it.
At another village Talnuagaon under Manikera GP, another practitioner Aurovindo Biswas has opened a clinic having four beds. There are stocks of allopathy medicines in the clinic and 30 used IV drip bottles have been kept on one side of the room. He holds an identity card of Indian Council of Alternative Medicines, West Bengal. This institute too runs without affiliation from CCIM. Biswas, however, said he is competent to practice allopathy medicine by the strength of the certificate.
The health care scene bears similar characters across the district as an acute shortage of doctors has forced people to approach the unauthorised practitioners and quacks. Both Madanpur and Talnuagaon have Government primary health centres (PHCs) in their vicinity but in absence of doctors there, people have no other option than to go to the illegal practitioners.
Against the sanctioned posts of 249 doctors, more than half at 125 are lying vacant in Kalahandi district. The district has two types of unauthorised practitioners. Some are alternative medicine practitioners from West Bengal and have opened full-fledged clinics. Taking advantage of people’s ignorance, they treat all kinds of ailments and prescribe allopathic medicines with impunity. Some of them even claim to be specialists. The second category is quacks, who do not have any identity cards but treat patients out of their experience. They move from one village to another in bicycles.
President of Indian Medical Association, Kalahandi unit, Dr Lambodar Sahu said the improper treatment by illegal practitioners are endangering people’s lives. “There may be more than 2000 quacks and about 150 alternative medicine clinics functioning in the district and this is not a good sign,” he complained.
Chief District Medical Officer, Saroj Kumar Tiadi said the Health Department is aware of the menace. But strangely, not a single unauthorised practitioner has yet been booked. “There is no monitoring mechanism but steps will be taken against any fake doctor on getting complaint,” he stated. Director Health Services Dr Brajakishore Brahma also said action will be taken against illegal practitioners.