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| Tuesday, 19 October 2004 |
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by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi For every qualified Western Medical doctor in the country there are four quacks. This has raised alarm bells in medical circles. The number of unqualified medical practitioners or quacks as they are called, number a staggering 40,000 as against 10,000 genuine medical practitioners, Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA)'s General Secretary Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said yesterday, referring to reports and statistics. Besides, there are a number of foreign medical personnel without professional qualifications who are masquerading as consultants in private practise throwing the health sector into a tailspin, sources said. Dr. Padeniya also said these quacks operate in a very ingenious manner so as to hoodwink the authorities who have so far failed to take effective measures to counter this racket. "Some are operating those clinics using the registered number and name of their fathers who had been [genuine] doctors while others are using their business registration numbers to run these medical centres," the sources said. In most cases, those quacks operate using bogus certificates or without any document, sources added. Dr. Padeniya said the lack of proper surveillance has led to this pathetic situation. He said the existing regulations of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) are not sufficient to eradicate such malpractices. "While controlling bodies in other countries do active surveillance, ours is not very effective," he said. He stressed that necessary amendments should be introduced to the Medical Ordinance to make it more effective and prevent any kind of malpractices. "In some countries, even courts cannot overrule decisions taken by professional bodies against their members who are bound by a strict code of ethics to these professional bodies," Dr. Padeniya explained. He said in recent times, this problem had been aggravated due to certain foreigners who practise as consultants in the private sector without due qualifications. He said at present the SLMC does not maintain a register of specialists, which is also causing severe problems. Dr. Padeniya said: "The SLMC should take action to change existing legislation. One remedy is to entrust the MOH in the respective areas to accompany the Police to apprehend these quacks." |
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