Govandi

NGO SSAWA

Sahyog Sankalp Ayurvedic Welfare Associations

Electro-Homeopathy Medicine

BEMS

BMC

Samajwadi Party corporators Raees Shaikh

Shivaji Nagar

Deonar

Mankhurd

Baiganwadi

Quacks in the city united recently to push for their rights to practice without the necessary medical degrees. The meet was spurred by a recent crackdowon on them by the Mumbai police. Fake and unregistered doctors came together inon January 11 with the prime objective of protesting against the police and supporting those who have been booked in cases of cheating.The Doctors Meet Summit 2018, attended by around 70 doctors, was organised by the) based in Ghatkopar. President of the organisation, Vidya Sagar Dubey, claims to help the quacks with legal documentation required to practice in Mumbai. Though the cops have confirmed that no such organisation is authorised to give any such documents, Dubey claims to ‘settle’ the dispute with cops.“All these doctors have a degree in Bachelors ofand Surgery () but then there is no specific council in India where you can register these doctors. We help them with legal documentation to get registrations done. We even hold meetings withand the police officials and try to sort out the matters amicably. The police go after these doctors and book them for cheating which is not right. These IPC sections do not apply for the doctors just because they are not registered,” said Dubey.and Rukhsana Siddiqui were present as chief guests for the seminar and both now claim that they were not aware of the background or qualification of these doctors and attended the event purely in good faith.The seminar was held in Asha Samaj Kalyan Kendra Hall, Govandi and the invitees also included the senior inspector of the local police station. The police however, knew of the motive behind organising the seminar and kept an eye on the quacks. Among the 70 doctors who attended the meet, 40 of them were quacks and most of them had been arrested in a raid conducted by the police and BMC in 2015.Dr Zahid Khan, secretary of United Medical Association, Mumbai raised an objection regarding this conference. He said, “All the doctors who had come there were fake. They say that they have a BEMS degree. But this degree is not valid in India at all. There are no colleges or institutes who provide courses in this discipline. Then how can they call themselves doctors?”Additional commissioner of police Lakhmi Gautam (east region) told Mirror, “No such private organization is authorized to give any medical degree and there is a proper medical association for all this. The police was not aware of any such gathering taking place. But now we will take appropriate action and avoid any such events in the future.”A list of quacks practicing their trade in the city’s 24 wards was drawn up and it became evident that many of them operated in M East Ward, which includesand Mankhurd. Cops started a drive against the quacks in November after a 25-year-old man was killed by an injection given by a HSC pass student who was practising as a doctor. Three more were arrested later in a raid. In a joint operation by the BMC and Mumbai Police on January 22, in 2015, 12 quacks were arrested for practicing homeopathy and alternate medicinal treatments in areas including Shivaji Nagar,and Govandi. It was found out that the quacks were also operating from unlicensed clinics in the areas, promising overnight cures and remedies of various diseases.A BMC health officer said those detained offered a range of medical services, from assisting during childbirth to surgeries; none of which they were qualified to perform.