3,850 quack businesses closed down since mid-April in Punjab

LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission has closed down 3,850 businesses of quacks in its present drive carried out across the province.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday, since the SC orders in mid-April, the PHC teams have visited 11,600 treatment centres, and sealed 3,850 quacks’ outlets.

Meanwhile, the district authorities have also inspected 2,785 treatement centres, and sealed 1,342 businesses of quacks according to the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act 2010. Both the PHC and district authorities had visited total 14,470 centres and closed down 5,192 businesses of quacks.

The PHC teams had sealed the maximum number of 714 quackery outlets in Lahore, while 249 each in Faisalabad and Kasur, 248 in Sheikhupura, 151 in Sargodha, 136 in Sahiwal, 135 in Muzaffargarh, 134 in Toba Tek Singh and 127 each in Sialkot and Rawalpindi.

Also, the Commission received more than 2,200 applications for desealing the businesses/treatment centres. Since the initiation of the anti-quackery campaign in July 2015, the PHC has sealed more than 13,800 quackery outlets.

Moreover, despite attacks on the PHC teams during the last week, the PHC teams sealed another 198 quackery outlets, which included 76 inKasur, 72 in Lahore and 50 in Sheikhupura. Also, the teams closed down an illegal Silver Lining and Hussain Shifa Khana drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation centres in Sheikhupura after evacuating 17 inmates and handing them over to their relatives. These were functioning without requisite human resource and facilities.