State should act to get rid of medical quacks

Kenyans should be concerned over high number of quacks operating freely in public hospitals putting lives of patients at risk. This could be a reason why there has been increasing cases of misdiagnosis and unexplained deaths due to wrong prescription.

 

Some reports in local media have even revealed cases where quacks have been operating for years in public hospitals under the radar of qualified medics without raising any alarm. Questions on who hired the quacks, how many victims were allegedly treated by the quack doctors and effects of their diagnoses are yet to be answered.

The Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board should step up their game in order to rid hospitals of quacks and punish hospital administrators who allow quacks to practice in their hospitals.

The laws governing licensing of medical practitioners, dentists and other health officers must be repealed to allow tough penalties for quacks and extend to hospital administrators. Section 22 of the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act stipulates that a person who is arrested practicing medicine, surgery or dentistry but is not licensed, shall be guilty of an offence that is liable for a fine of up to Sh10,000 or 1 year jail term. This is extremely lenient.

The law should be amended to allow for higher fines and should also be extended to any medical practitioner who allow quacks to operate freely without reporting to relevant authorities.

The government through it’s respective organs should put efforts to clear the mess in public hospitals, review the penalties on medical quacks and their accomplices and eradicate medical negligence and promote corruption-free health care. Nora Henritah Mwashida, Taita Taveta.