Officials of various government departments and agencies raided four clinics and nabbed three quacks claiming to offer treatment for COVID-19 in Ranipet district on Thursday.
Following the instructions of district collector S Divyadharshini and Joint Director of Medical Services M Yasmin, five teams, consisting of officials from the medical services, drug control, revenue and police departments, swooped down on the clinics at Kavanur in the district.
They found the men providing treatment without any valid qualifications. The teams, under the supervision of district liaison officer (Medical Services) Dr K Keerthi, nabbed Gandhi, Parthiban and Ranganathan.
“Five teams raided the clinics at Kavanur simultaneously. Three quacks were arrested. We found them practising allopathy without any valid qualifications,” Keerthi told The New Indian Express.
Medicines including expired ones and equipment were seized from the quacks who deceived locals by claiming to offer treatment for COVID-19.
The officials also found another quack operating a clinic by hiring a qualified doctor but without proper registration.
The clinic, Lakshmi Narayana Hospital, was run by Ilangovan, who was still at large, at Kavanur where a doctor with an MBBS was found treating fever patients without either registration or following protocols related to COVID-19.
“Medicines and equipments were seized from the clinic. We also sealed it. Further inquiries are going on,” Keerthi informed.
Gandhi had been running the clinic for about 30 years while Parthiban and Ranganathan were operating theirs for 10 years.
Ilangovan, who is yet to be nabbed, was imprisoned twice in the past. Yet, he had been running the clinic.
It may be noted that an official team nabbed a quack, Madhavan, at Ammur near Ranipet two months ago for cheating local people by offering a vaccine for preventing COVID-19.