Terming fake doctors a menace to society, the Madras High Court observed that the Government was duty-bound to deal with such persons with iron hands.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Murali Shankar lamented that instead of taking action, police remained mute spectators and got themselves satisfied with the imposition of fine.
The High Court observed that some persons called themselves medical practitioners with the help of a diploma certificate issued under various other Indian systems of medicine.
Noting that practicing Allopathy system of Medicine was a serious issue, the Bench said that such pseudo doctors were playing with the life of innocent people, who were coming to them believing that they were genuine doctors.
The Government, through the official respondents, was duty bound to deal with such persons with iron hands, it added.
The single-judge Bench made the observations on a petition filed by Amrithlal, who was running two businesses – Surya Nursing Home and AMK Medical Shop. Amrithlal had filed the petition challenging the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine order, refusing to refund a fine amount collected from him.
Responding to the petition, the State submitted that the officials, nominated by the state to implement the Government Order to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19, had inspected the nursing home and imposed a fine for not obliging with the guidelines issued by the State for controlling the spread of the pandemic. The State also produced letters from authorities and photographs taken during the inspection.
Amrithlal argued that the entire inspection was a drama demonstrated by the authorities for grabbing money from him illegally after he refused to pay Rs one lakh demanded by the Health Inspector. He added that he had not disclosed this illegal demand of money in the interest of family members of the authorities.
However, the High Court found it very hard to believe and agreed with the authorities that the allegation of illegal demand of money was a mere afterthought. It noted that the fine was imposed for a failure to comply with the requirements issued by the State to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The single-judge Bench added that Amrithlal had failed to show that he had followed the guidelines in the nursing home at the time of inspection and the levy of fine could not be faulted with. It observed that the High Court was not inclined to order the refund of the penalty amount.
The single-judge Bench also took note of a report of the Deputy Director of Health Services stating that some persons were giving Allopathy treatment to patients without necessary qualifications and the petitioner was also one of them.
The High Court, after coming to know that the respondent authorities failed to take any action against Amrithlal despite knowing that he was giving allopathy treatment without qualification, expressed its dissatisfaction with the authorities’ conduct. The authorities were directed to ascertain whether Amrithlal and others working in the Nursing Home had the required qualifications and to take appropriate action otherwise.
The petitioner was represented by Advocate G Thalaimutharasu, while Special Government Pleader AK Manikkam appeared for the respondents.