The advisory issued by the J&K Medical Council asking the medical practitioners to include all their details on prescriptions, OPD records, and other patient documents apparently seems to be the part of foolproof mechanism which the aforesaid institution is trying to create to keep a check on the quackery but what is the guarantee that the information provided by the quacks on thee aforesaid documents or for that matter stored in the QR codes is correct and free from being manipulated.
No doubt the intention behind the move is good but the utility seem to be limited because this will not stop the quacks from deceiving the innocent people because generating QR codes or printing the prescriptions is a very easy process and anyone could print the prescriptions with their choice of degrees to fleece the gullible.
As per the order, doctors working in Government healthcare facilities must include their signature, name, designation and registration number issued by JKMC, along with the date and time, on all relevant documents such as OPD prescriptions, clinical notes, patient case records, investigation reports, and medical certificates. Although, this directive will bring in more transparency in the healthcare system but the major issue of quacks cheating the people need to be tackled in a different manner by the concerned authorities catching hold of bogus doctors by visiting their places physically and checking their degrees and the claims made by them.
The aforesaid move by the J&K Medical Council will no doubt provide information about genuine doctors to the patients and will improve the scenario but as far as quacks are concerned, much more has to be done to tighten noose around them. The scenario in far off hamlets is more prone to such malpractices where inspections and checking are seldom conducted and the quacks can act fearlessly.
It is better that the government should release the list of genuinely registered medicos on regular basis and no one except those whose names have been listed should be allowed to treat the patients whether in cities, towns or villages or in the far off places.
This is necessary to contain quackery because otherwise it is very easy to fleece the innocent people by forging documents and fiddling with the records as common man is vulnerable to such frauds.
