Introduce a central anti-quackery law, urges IMA

*Introduce a central anti-quackery law, urges IMA*

*Demands stringent action against those practicing without a license*

*New Delhi, 04 June 2017:* The IMA has urged the government to introduce
more stringent laws to clamp down on those practicing medicine without a
license, particularly in the rural areas. This is yet another issue raised
by the IMA, which will eventually lead up to the Dilli Chalo movement on
6th June 2017. Thousands of doctors, MBBS students, and others in the
fraternity are expected to be a part of this movement which will be
followed by deliberations on some of the key issues being faced by the
medical community today.

The demand for an anti-quack act comes in the wake of the need to plug gaps
that remain in the Clinical Establishment Act. The IMA is of the opinion
that the old act had been formulated to benefit corporate entities.

Speaking about this, *Padma Shri Awardee Dr K K Aggarwal, National
President Indian Medical Association (IMA) and President Heart Care
Foundation of India (HCFI) and Dr RN Tandon – Honorary Secretary General
IMA in a joint statement*, said, “A knife in the hands of an unlearned
person and modern medicine in the hands of quacks, chemists, and doctors of
other systems of medicine can put the life of many in danger. There are
many cases of patients in print and electronic media every day, who have
suffered major health setback or even died while receiving allopathic
treatment from unqualified quacks. The tip of the iceberg is that many such
cases go unreported. We urge the government to introduce an anti-quack act
to make medical practitioners more accountable.”

There is a variety of fake medical degrees like electro-homeopathy,
indo-allopathy, and those with such degrees call themselves as
practitioners of Alternative System of Medicine. Under this guise, they
practice Modern Medicine. There is a need to take action against such
quacks wherever they are found.

Adding further, *Dr Aggarwal*, said, “There is lack of awareness among
state governments, the legislature(s), judiciary, and doctors themselves
regarding the danger posed by quacks and about non-entitlement of
practitioners of Indian Medicine who are practicing Modern Medicine. This
confusion has been further compounded by various contradictory government
and court orders. All this has put the health of the people especially the
poor, critically ill, women, and children, at stake. There is, thus, an
urgent need to act against quacks wherever any of us come across them.”

Dilli Chalo will be a silent satyagraha by doctors from all over India
joining in person or digitally through a live webcast. The IMA is also
initiating a signature campaign on the issues at hand on social media and
has urged all doctors to join and collect hundreds of thousands of
signatures to demand justice from the government.

*-Ends-*

*About IMA*: Indian Medical Association is the only representative,
national voluntary organization of Doctors of Modern Scientific System of
Medicine, which looks after the interest of doctors as well as the well
being of the community at large. It has its Headquarter in Delhi and State
/ Terr. Branches in 30 States and Union Territories. It has over 2, 60,000
doctors as its members through more than 1765 active local branches spread
across the country.