Experts discuss anti-quackery strategies to eliminate quackery in Sindh

KARACHI: The first meeting of the Anti-Quackery Taskforce of the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) was held in Karachi where experts discussed anti-quackery strategies to eliminate quackery from the Sindh province.

The meeting was attended by Consultant /CEO, Healthcare Innovation, Dr Arshi Farooqi, Director, Sindh Judicial Academy, Justice (Retd.) Arif Khilji, Senior Technical Advisor, PPHI, Sindh, Dr Zaib Dahar,  Director, Directorate of Nursing, Sindh, Shabbir Jhattial, and other dignitaries from the health sector.

In the task force meeting, the challenges faced while tackling the issues concerned with quackery were discussed. It was highlighted that the ratio of doctor to quacks is 1:4 which means that the number of quacks is increasing across the country. The need for database for Health Care Establishment (HCEs) categories was emphasized; therefore, planning for geotagging and geo-mapping is now under process at the SHCC.

The Director of Anti-Quackery, SHCC, briefed the members about the future planning of the directorate including the formation of 3 cells including the Strategic Research and Development Cell (SRDC) for advisory role, strategy development, and constitution of the quality circle of the SHCC, the Advocacy Communication Social Mobilization Cell (ACSM) for advisory support to create social will against quackery practice, and the Inspection and Enforcement Cell (I&E) to provide assistance for the development of Inspection and Enforcement strategies.

The Directorate of Complaint, SHCC, also conducted a hearing and an inspection of Dar-ul-Sehat Hospital Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi. The hospital had applied for provisional licensing at the SHCC.