A help cell set up by the General Practitioners Association (GPA), a forum of MBBS doctors in Kerala, has received 82 complaints in around a month against unqualified or unregistered medical practitioners in various districts in the State.
Functionaries of the GPA told The Hindu on Sunday that though 20-odd complaints had been registered with the respective police stations, only one person, in Ernakulam, had been arrested so far.
The ‘quack cell’, which became functional in June last week, got the highest number of complaints from Ernakulam district (22). It is followed by Kollam (20); Alappuzha and Kannur (six each); Thrissur, Malappuram and Idukki (five each); Kozhikode and Palakkad (three each); Kasaragod (three); Wayanad (two); and Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam (one each). Some of these people have been reportedly “practising” for around a decade. Members of the cell point out that these numbers may go up, especially in districts such as Thiruvananthapuram, from where many cases have not been brought before them.
