₹10 fee drew patients to the quack

KANPUR: The nominal fee of Rs 10 that quack Rajendra Yadav charged for treatment and medicines made residents of Bangarmau in Unnao fall in his trap, which allegedly resulted in HIV infection to dozens of people, a senior medical officer said.

“Yadav was giving medicines and injections to patients for Rs 10. People fell for it and caught this deadly infection,” said chief medical officer (CMO), Unnao, SP Chowdhary.

Yadav is now a wanted man. But for villager Deendayal and other poor villagers, the quack was just like a hero.

Villagers don’t blame quacks but doctors at the CHC for the problem as they prescribed expensive medicines and did not treat them properly. “Yadav used to give us respect and was polite. Doctors at the CHC misbehave with us and scold us. We are afraid of visiting them. They never gave medicine for free but prescribed it from a specific medical stores,” said Deendayal.

The health department has registered a case against Yadav with the Bangarmau police.

“He had quite a following in three localities – Premgunj, Kareemuddin Nagar and Chakmeera. He was running his ‘clinic’ on a bicycle which he would pedal from one village to another. As things turn out, he was using a single glass syringe to administer injections to all his patients,” Chowdhary said.

“As of now, he is the one responsible for so many people catching HIV infection. There can be other reasons but initial investigation puts the onus on him,” he said.

The CMO said the police were finding it hard to track him as no one knew his address. “His mobile number was also found to be switched off,” he said.

According to the CMO, at least 63 people had been identified as HIV-positive since July last year.

“These patients range from 6 to 70 years of age. Six patients belong to a single family. All of them were treated by him in the past,” Chowdhary said.

“We have started antiretroviral therapy (ART) and counselling of all the patients. We have launched an awareness campaign in the area for the residents and family members of the patients,” he said.