With quackery in Indian Systems of Medicine increasing in northern part of Kerala without any control, theWayanad district health administration has started a crack down on the Ayurveda, Siddha and Homoeopathy hospitals and clinics to check if the practitioners in these centres are qualified or not.

A crack team comprising medical officers of Ayurveda and allopathy conducted raids on fifty Ayurveda, Siddha and Homoeopathy hospitals and clinics in the district last week and memos were issued to the owners for not appointing qualified and registered persons in respective systems as medical practitioners, said Dr Vinod Babu, DMO, Wayanad district.

Qualified professionals registered with Travancore-Cochin Medical Council (TCMC) will only be allowed to practice in respective systems, the DMO added. He said the raid is part of an exercise to curb quackery in the Indian systems of treatment and would continue in the interior villages of the district till all the quacks are evicted.

During the raid, racket of quacks was brought to light and stern warning was issued to them to abstain from fake practice claiming to be traditional healers. The raids have been launched on instructions from the district collector who was approached by the district committee of the Ayurveda Medical Association of India (AMAI) with a representation.

The district president of AMAI, Dr Mohammad Rafi said several of the quacks are placing boards in front of their clinics claiming doctors and use the prefix ‘Dr” before their names. He said AMAI would not remain as silent spectator to quackery and all the fake practitioners would be exposed to the authorities. The state body of the Ayurveda medical practitioners has urged the government to initiate such raids in all the districts and crack the whip on all quacks in order to cleanse the field of traditional healing.

According to AMAI sources, some people claiming to be traditional healers approached the government in 2011 for exemption from acquiring recognised qualification and registration for practicing Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani systems. The government, through a special order in February 2011, granted exemption to the self-learnt Ayurveda and Homoeopathy practitioners of Malabar region and allowed them to continue practice in their areas. But, objecting this order, AMAI and Institution of Homoeopathy Kerala (IHK) jointly filed a petition with the high court and obtained a stay order.

Even after the stay order, these traditional healers are continuing the treatment masquerading as doctors, said Dr Mohammad Rafi. The Travancore-Cochin Medical Council is the authority to grant recognition to the qualified ISM professionals to practice in their field.