There's nothing wrong with a late-stage career shift. But, the least you could do is have the necessary qualification.
54-year-old Arumuguraj, however, spent 12 years as a doctor in Coimbatore, without bothering about that minimum need.
Two quacks were arrested in Coimbatore on Thursday following raids by the Health Department. People who had visited their clinics, had complained to the department about these two ‘doctors’.
The quacks, Arumugaraj, (54), from Alandurai and Kalaivani, (35), from Thondamuthur, were arrested on Thursday.
Arumugaraj has been running an allopathic clinic in Alandurai for the last 12 years. The man with BA.and BeD degrees, had initially practiced Homeopathy and was registered as ‘Indian Medical Practitioner’ in Indian Board of Alternative Medicine.
On the other hand, Kalaivani had been running allopathy clinic for the last one year.
Speaking to TNM, Kannan, Joint Director of Health Services, Coimbatore, said, “I had got complaints from people on Thursday. So, we conducted surprise visits to the clinics run by the two doctors. They do not possess any valid qualification to practice allopathy,” he said.
He added that he also checked with the Indian Medical Council if they were registered doctors and found out that they were quacks.
“Police have arrested them and filed a case against them. This is the fourth such incident in Coimbatore this year. We are keeping a check on all the clinics and as soon as we get information, we conduct raids and take immediate action. My number has been given out in the news so that people can inform me about such people,” said Kannan.
A case has been filed under provisions of the Indian Penal Code including section 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged 1[document or electronic record]) of the Indian Penal Code and 15 of Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and 17 (4) of Indian Medicine Centre Council Act 1979.
In October, 2016, a siddha practitioner and three of his patients were killed in Tenkasi after consuming a herbal diabetes medication made by the practitioner. Muthupandian, the practitioner had been providing naturopathy treatment at his house in Tenkasi for 20 years, and reportedly had many patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension.
In September, two quacks were arrested in Thiruvallur district. The clinic was run by an MBBS doctor’s wife and an unregistered ultrasound scanner was also found in the clinic. The health department had suspected that couple were carrying out illegal abortions and sex determination tests. They were also running a medical college attached to the clinic.
In the other case in Thiruvallur district, another medical college named Anbu Evangeline Paramedical College was running with no statutory approvals. It was run by a woman who did not have an MBBS degree and was also treating patients at a clinic which was part of the medical college.