There is doubt that AAP Govt. will keep it up

‘Fishy’ CM Kejriwal Pulls a Fast One on Delhi Quacks

 New Delhi, April 15: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was himself duped by ‘fishy’ doctors and swallowed live fish in the false belief that he would be cured of Asthma.

Even his die- hard supporter doctor and anti-quackery activist, Dr. Anil Bansal disapproves of fish therapy and calls it a rank quackery.

So his seemingly swift action against capital’s quack doctors recently, on the face of it, seems more of quackery itself than sincere action.

Kejriwal’s abhorrence of allopathic treatment is well known and he has more often than not digressed into quack’s hands. And it is this tribe of quacks that no political party in Delhi, especially Kejriwal’s AAP, can afford to antagonize.

The Public Grievance Department, which is directly under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, currently seems to be in overdrive in case of complaints of quackery.  A complaint against three quacks operating in New Delhi district was received by the grievance department on Friday. The CM immediately shot off a letter to the chief district medical officer (CDMO) and asked for a report within 72 hours. Not only this, Director Health Services breathed over CDMO’s necks for the report.

Naturally, Dr. Anil Bansal, a former member of Delhi Medical Council, is overwhelmed by this kind of alacrity, the one he never witnessed in his long stint of campaign against quacks.

A team of four members from the anti-quackery committee of CDMO visited the area where the quacks operated and issued notices to them. Dr. Bansal was included in the raiding team constituted to carry CM’s order.

While Talking to Meditoall,  Dr. Anil Bansal, a great fan of muffler man, said, ‘ When we visited the address provided by the officials, none of the quacks were present at the clinic. They got to know about the raid and fled from the spot. We have issued notices to them. I was especially impressed by the sincerity of the response. Health officials were compelled to give report within 72 hours.’

On CM himself once becoming victim of quackery in the form of fish therapy for asthma, Dr. Bansal said, ‘ There is no doubt that fish therapy for asthma is a quackery and Kejriwal is known to once try it himself but his recent actions have shown that he has realized the harms quackery is doing to people. They have instilled hope in us that quacks’ days are numbered in Delhi. At least I have ‘diagnosed’ that CM must be showing same alacrity in other grievance cases.’

To underline the difference between CM kejriwal’s and previous regimes’ responses, he cited the example of former CM Sheila Dikshit response. He said, ‘when as member of Delhi Medical Council, I met the then CM Sheila Dikshit to request to expedite actions against quacks, she advised us to go rather slow on the matter. She said quacks were politically very strong in Delhi and no political party could dare to act against them.’

Incidentally, when Dr Harshvardhan was Delhi’s health minister, he was given the same advice by the then veterans of BJP. As a result, Dr. Harhsvardhan had to keep his intended law against quackery under wraps.  AAP’s vote bank especially belongs to areas where quacks have much influence. Will CM Kejriwal keep it up or finally wilt under their pressure like others? Only time will tell.

By an estimate, there are at least two lakh quacks in the country, of which around 50,000 are in Delhi alone. Most of them do their shady practice in North and West Delhi. The MCI has registered at least 50 FIRs for fake medical degrees across the country.

                                                                                 Dhananjay Kumar