The General Practitioners' Association, Mumbai is up in arms against the growing number of quacks practicing alternative system of medicines in the city. GPA would be proceeding against these practitioners displaying several obscure qualifications in their clinics.

As a first step in this regard, a list of quacks having such doubtful qualifications would be submitted to the office of the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) and Maharashtra Council of Indian Medicine (MCIM) urging them to scrutinize their claims and initiate stern action against the offenders.

The qualifications in contention that have been under the scanner of the GPA include the Licentiate of the Court of Examiners in Homoeopathy (LCEH) and several other diploma courses conducted in the streams of Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and Ayurveda.

"Many of these small time courses under these four systems are posing a problem for general practitioners like us", cites Dr Suhas Pingle, secretary, General Practitioners Association (GPA). "These diploma holders then set up practice without knowledge and training and lure people into their clinics promising them of a cure", added Dr Pingle.

"We would be requesting the Maharashtra Medical Council to consider these qualifications and set up a panel to scrutinize them. By bringing such checks by the regulatory body, we could ensure that there is no abnormal rise in the number of quacks from these systems," he said.

Another problem faced by the general practitioners is the practice of cross prescription indulged in by these doctors. "Many of these doctors prescribe allopathic medicines against the rules. We hope the MMC takes this matter also into account while deciding on the status of these practitioners," concludes Dr Pingle.