10 quacks arrested in Vellore district

VELLORE: Health department officials on Monday arrested 10 quacks who were operating allopathy clinics in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu .

Ten special teams, who were on an anti-quack drive for nearly 72 hours, seized medicines, syringes and intravenous fluids that were used to treat fever patients.

I Yasmin, joint director of the health department in Vellore, said, “Though we ordered the district administration and the public health department to spread awareness and give warning, cracking down on quacks in the district has been a big challenge."

The official added that most of them did not even finish their undergraduation. "All these quacks continue to be a big threat to society. Many of them continue to operate their clinic even after they got bail."

After receiving a number of complaints, the department formed 10 special teams with 50 health workers, revenue personnel and police officials.

The operation to track these quacks started on Friday morning and ended on Monday morning, said Yasmin.

The arrested were identified as Krishnamoorthi, Barathi, Ponnarasan, Sinivasan, Manjula Gulansrujit, Nalini, Narasimman Gandhi and Babu. All of them were aged between 30 to 50 years.

Their clinics are situated at Saidapet, Karnampat, Vasanthapuram, Pennathur, Konavattam, Murukeri, Anaicut and Gudiyattam.

Vellore district collector A Shanmugasundaram said, “We requested the public to immediately visit the nearest government hospital or PHCs if they developed any Covid-19 symptoms. These quacks took advantage of the situation and misused the fear among people. They continued to administer treatment for all kinds of diseases, including high fever and body aches."

The collector added that the presence of quacks had made it difficult for health workers to identify Covid-19 patients.

"We are also finding it hard to contain the spread of the virus. We planned to detail all the arrested quacks under Goondas Act and also book them under various sections of the IPC," he said.