About:
- 3% of personnel currently practising allopathic medicine do not have a medical qualification.
- There is a huge skew in the distribution of doctors working in the urban and rural areas, leaving rural and poor population in the clutches of quacks. Urban to rural doctor density ratio in India is 3.8:1.
- India’s doctor-population ratio is 1:1456 as compared with the World Health Organisation standards of 1:1000.
Provisions to deal with quacks:
- Section 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 prohibits a person other than a medical practitioner enrolled on a State Medical Register to practice medicine in the State.
- Any person acting in contravention is punishable with imprisonment and fine.
- Since health is a State subject, the primary responsibility to deal with such cases lies with the respective State governments.
