As Covid spreads in villages, quacks do a brisk business
Officials detect illegal clinics in districts during their surveys in villages to tack suspected patients
JAIPUR: Glucose drips dangling from a wire inside hot and dingy rooms, and sagging khats (beds) placed haphazardly over each other under a sprawling tent, the quack clinics of rural Rajasthan are reaping a windfall even as patients find their symptoms worsening.
These “Jhola chaps” (quacks) centres have begun to come under the notice of district administrations in Bhilwara, Bharatpur, Barmer, and Udaipur, where an intense door-todoor survey to track and trace villagers with symptoms of ILI (influenza-like illness) are underway.
In Bharatpur, doctors suspect that increasing cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, could be a side effect of treatment by quacks who swamp the Mewat region.
Dr Kuldeep Soni, an ENT specialist at the district hospital, said that black fungus hit patients after they receive treatment from unregistered medical professionals who give high doses of steroids.
“Steroids are administrated diligently, but quacks prescribe them as they wish which leads to patients developing black fungus,” he said.
The cases of this debilitating illness are being reported from the rural belt of Bharatpur, which also happens to be a safe haven for quacks. On May 11, local tehsildar conducted raids in the Halena area of Bharatpur and seized three unregistered clinics, but the quacks had already fled.
In Barmer, a quack was arrested after he was found to be running a 50-bed hospital in Siwana tehsil on Wednesday.
About seven patients were undergoing treatment inside dingy rooms, bereft of ceiling fans or proper ventilation. Another 60 people had gathered in close space to consult the accused.
The officials said that some patients were found to be on the oxygen supply. The accused, identified as Rajendra Singh, claimed that he was a qualified doctor and turned belligerent. However, he could not show his degrees and other educational credentials.
The team of officials that inspected the hospital was shocked to see that a sprawling pandal (tent) was erected in the backyard of the hospital where khats (beds) were laid out for patients.
SDM, Siwana, Kusumlata Chouhan said during the inspection she found that around 50 patients were being treated there. “When we asked the man running the clinic to show his medical credentials, he became unruly and misbehaved with the team. We have seized the clinic and lodged an FIR against the accused,” she said,
Barmer CMHO, Dr Babu Lal Vishnoi said that quacks are responsible for many cases in which the condition of a patient deteriorated, “We have raided several illegal clinics operated by quacks in the last two weeks. Their (quacks’) treatment often leads to patients developing severe symptoms,” he said, adding that during the door-to-door survey, teams came across many illegal centres.
In the Shahpura area of Bhilwara
district, a quack turned his animal shed into a hospital for patients.
Local tehsildar Indera Jeet Singh raided the hospital on May 10 when somebody tipped him off about the quack.
Several bottles of glucose and medicines were recovered from the house even as the accused fled when he spotted a team approaching his house. Singh said that an FIR was given to the police in this regard.
The local team found a charpai with a wooden stick tied to one of its legs which was used as a holder for glucose drips. Boxes full of medicines were kept near a place where animals were tethered.
In Udaipur, an illegal hospital was run by a self-proclaimed medical student from abroad who could not produce any medical degree to back his educational credentials.
“The hospital had admitted two Covid-19 patients and other suspected cases of the same illness. But the hospital itself was not authorised for the treatment of Covid-19, neither the person claiming to be the doctor was qualified,” said Dr Manju Choudhary, CEO, Zila Parishad.
Bhupalpura police station on May 7 registered an FIR against the hospital.
According to the FIR, it was named as “multi-specialty,” the hospital where apart from two confirmed cases, six other patients suspected to be suffering from the Covid-19 were undergoing treatment.
In the Jhadol area of Udaipur, the local police on May 5 found one Pradeep Kumar Dutta running a hospital for the treatment of local villagers. Sources said that the accused had studied till Class XII and did not have any experience in the medical profession.
In all clinics and hospitals operated by quacks, glucose drips and medicines to treat fever were recovered in huge amounts.
According to Dr Raghuvendra Rai, deputy CMHO, Udaipur, quacks use the same medicine for all treatment and should be avoided at all costs.
Officials in Rajasthan police say that they are presently too stretched out to rein in the quacks.
“There is hardly any medical health infrastructure in some rural areas, so villagers visit nearby quacks for treatment of fever, cough and headache. Each time we go to raid these quacks, some villagers alert the quacks and they flee,” a senior police official said, adding that during Covid-19 they are unable to organise major raids.