DR. MAHESH BALDWA ,
CHAIRMAN of ANTI QUACKERY SUB –COMMITTEE.

Tolerating excesses of unscrupulous people is more damaging to society than raising voice against them. More damage is done by knowledgeable mute spectator not acting against unethical/unlawful element of society.

A quack is a person who pretends to have knowledge which he does not possess; who promises to do what he is either not sure he can perform or what he is certain he cannot perform; who represents his practice to be more successful than that of other men; who pretends to cure diseases known and admitted to be incurable; whose manner is confident and imposing; whose tone and language are unhesitating and boastful; who employs remedies, the nature and composition of which he keeps unknown and who deals in specifics and universal remedies. He is addicted to handbills, newspapers and similar modes of making known his pretensions and proceedings. This is the quack and the conduct of this man is quackery.

In short “quack” as a “fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill” or “a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess; a charlatan
quackery can exist without fraud
There are following types of quackery seen in India

1. Qualified medical practitioners indulging in work beyond their skills & knowledge
2. Qualified medical practitioners indulging Corss-pathy practice
3. Qualified medical practitioners indulging violating laws related to drugs & medicine.
4. medical practice by unqualified person
5. obesity clinics, hair clinics, breast augmentation clinics etc
6. lay people indulging in curing diseases like yoga institutes, rejuvenation centers etc
7. persons / companies come out with products/ drugs/ therapies/ surgeries for schedule of diseases in The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954 which are forbidden by law

India’s Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, gives drug regulatory departments or the police the right to take action against misleading advertisements related to treatments, including arrests and seizure of the products.
Industry estimates show that misleading advertisements related to treatments especially those related to the health care segment, has annual sales of at least Rs10,000 crore in India.
A division bench, of acting Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice K.S. Gupta, restrained the Naturo-Electro homeopathy Medicos of India (NEHMI) from awarding degrees, diplomas and certificates for any course in the next six months. The bench said “false and misleading” claims were being made in the media by “fictitious” institutes.
Vaccination is very much a part of the curriculum for the degree in the Allopathic school of medicine. Under the situation it will amount to cross-pathy practice which amounts to negligence per se and practiced.
You just have to look up a copy of CIMS/MIMS, and begin prescribing allopathic medicines. You will get bolder with every prescription you write, and soon enough, you prescribe steroids and hormones, inject painkillers and vitamins with more confidence than a real doctor.
It is time we acted out of concern for the health of our people. A professional body or voluntary organization must take the lead in formulating an action plan after networking with other medical, para-medical, professional and consumer organizations. The aim is not to make these quacks jobless, but to prevent gullible people from falling prey to unqualified treatment.

Yours faithfully,
DR. MAHESH BALDWA ,

CHAIRMAN of ANTI QUACKERY SUB –COMMITTEE.

MUMBAI WEST SUBURBS POLICE STATIONS AND CONTACT NUMBERS
ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONER, WEST REGION (JOGESHWARI – BANDRA (EAST & WEST)

ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONER NORTH REGION (DAHISAR – GOREGAON (EAST & WEST)