Daily Times

LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has closed down 116 fake treatment centres of quacks in three cities of the province and initiated further proceedings against them.

According to the spokespersons of PHC on Saturday, the PHC teams had sealed 116 businesses of quacks in the provincial metropolis, Faisalabad and Jhang districts during the past week. The sealed quacks’ businesses were categorised as 50 general quacks, 30 fake dentists, 20 hakims, nine one-bone setters, three each medical stores, homoeopathic doctors and a laboratory.

In the Faisalabad district and three other tehsils, 45 quacks’ businesses were closed, which comprised 22 general quacks, 16 fake dentists, four one-bone setters, two hakims and a laboratory. In the district of Jhang, its tehsil Shorkot and other small towns, 41 fake treatment centres were closed down, which included 12 hakims, 11 fake dentists, nine general quacks, three each bone-setters, medical stores and homoeopathic medics.

In Lahore, the PHC teams sealed another 30 fake treatment centres in different parts of the city. These quacks’ businesses comprised 19 general quacks, six hakims, three fake dentists and two bone-setters. The shut down fake treatment centres of the general quacks were Abdullah Clinic, Arif Clinic, Ahmed Clinic, Ghulam Mustafa Clinic, Al-Noor Clinic, Iqbal Clinic, Shafiq Clinic, Faryat Clinic, Rauf Clinic, Salam Clinic & Medical Store, Waheed Clinic, Hafiz Clinic and Medical Store, Zubair Clinic, Afzal Homeo Clinic, Ramzan Clinic, Kareem Latif Clinic, Iqbal Clinic, Shafique Clinic and Tayyaba Free Dispensary.

Moreover, six hakims by the name of Baba Hakim Nazir Dawakhana, Madni Dawakhana, Rafiq Dawakhana, Sinaasi Dawakhana, Matab Al-Saudia and Muffer-e-Hayat Dawakhana, three fake dentists Irfan Al-Imran Dental Clinic, Hamza Dental Clinic and Khan Dental Clinic, and two bone-setters Hafiz Nadeem Jarrah and Abdul Rasheed Jarrah were also closed down.

The spokesperson of the PHC has added that the commission has sealed more than 8,400 and imposed a fine of about Rs 65.55 million.

Published in Daily Times, April 8^th 2018.