Which corporate hospital in Hyderabad has the best Facebook Cover image? “Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.” ― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead Most of you thought it is Apollo Health City's Facebook cover image but it's not. Surprised? Read on. Though Apollo Health City Facebook page has 65k followers, using a generic campaign creative on its cardiac treatment expertise looks vague. My feeling is that either a patient or a star heart transplant surgeon should have been at the heart of the cover image. In case of the latter, my bet is on Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, Cardio Thoracic Surgeon, who could have been featured instead but the management may be wary of a doctor becoming bigger than the hospital. This creative goes well with the violet color of Care Hospitals but the designer should have run a spell-check on November! By the way, lung cancer being the most common cancer in Indian men could be factually incorrect. It s...
My Take On Quackery: IMA Please Stop Short-Cut, Go For A Frontal Attack
The Indian Medical Association is in the news for coming out with a trademarked logo with the letters 'Dr' placed inside the centre of a red cross with the sole purpose of preventing quacks from usurping their profession.
"IMA has found a cure for quackery and fake doctors. IMA has patented its logo. We need to pass on this information to as much people as possible. Do It today," was the message being circulated by IMA national president Dr K K Agarwal to all their members.
The moot point is this: Is defensive approach the right way to take on quacks when they are snatching away not just your bread and butter but fooling gullible people in the name of practicing medicine?
Is it is difficult to launch a frontal offensive against them?
The argument of the IMA is that the police do not act against quacks. They (quacks) have the patronage of the politicians too.
Well, if that is the case, then one needs to approach other ways to ensure that the laws of the land is implemented against quacks.
Practical Suggestions
Send a decoy patient to these quacks and get some Schedule H drugs prescribed for some imaginary illness. Now, take the prescription and approach a police station. The idea would be to lodge an F.I.R against the quack under the following sections of Indian Penal Code:
IPC: 416 ( Cheating by impersonation)
IPC: 417 (Punishment for cheating)
IPC : 418 (Cheating with knowledge)
IPC : 471 (Using as genuine as forged document)
IPC : 23,24,25 (Wrongful gain, dishonesty, fraud)
IPC: 269 , 270 (Negligent act & malignant Act that is likely to spread infection of dangerous disease)
IPC: 336,337,338 (Act endangering life or personal safety, causing hurt and causing grievous hurt)
Indian Medical Council Act, 1956: Section 15 & section 25
Indian Medical Degrees Act: Section 6-A (1 )
Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940- Section 27
Well, the police may refuse to register an FIR. For this, the IMA needs to sensitise the police by submitting memorandum down from the DGP to SPs to SHOs of every police station, appealing them to take action against bogus doctors.
If they don't act, each local IMA branch can register private complaint against the quack in local courts. This would compel the police to register the case and start investigation. The best thing to do is to set up a model case in each town and mandal that acts as a deterrent for other quacks.
In case, if the local IMA can't do all these, the best thing is to collect prescription based evidence against select quacks from each village and submit all these proofs in the High Court by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the following government authorities for their inaction in upholding the laws of the land.
Home Secretary
Health Secretary
All District Collectors
All SPs in districts
Post Script: Be brave and fight them. If you cannot fight them, blacklist all those who encourage them even if they happen to be allopathy doctors.
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Many doctors in the IMA work hand in gloves with these touts. Moreover the touts have strong social and political support. No one will do anything against them.
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