Treatment is not a business, it is a charity – this has been the ancient tradition of India. Dhanwantari, Charak, Sushrut are not Vaidyas they are known as sages. Business is the of worldly and household people, which is done for procuring money. In case of charity, money takes a secondary place and it is replaced by kindness, empathy, service, welfare, salvation etc.

Therefore sages -saints, yogi, holy men, great souls but not the household persons did the work of treatment. Even today, a patient is tempted to take their shelter for treatment of incurable diseases. There are thousands of people in India today, who give treatment for special diseases free of cost; they themselves bear the cost of medicine because that medicine is produced by some ascetic, sage, great soul and while giving the medicine they are bound by their promise that this yoga treatment is for charity. This is not for the sake of earning money. Nobody should misuse this knowledge. Nobody should start making money, hence that knowledge is kept secret or passed on to any worthy person, a benevolent person and a person who does not make money. Since the ancient times, the faith in these people is existing, that if a particular person makes money out of the knowledge of medicine then that medicine will loose its medicinal effect on its own, it means that if money is taken, the disease will not be cured with that medicine. India is basically a spiritualistic country, where charity is given lot of importance. Charity has taken the most important position in the four areas of religion, economy, sex and salvation. The Indians have obtained this knowledge and education of charity from the nature.

A prudent person has aptly said:

[ sanskrit: (Nitishatatakam) ]

It means, the Sun lotus develops groups, the Moon blossoms the water lily and the clouds give water without asking. In the same way the gentlemen involve in the ‘ service of charity on their own.

Whatever thing we are getting free of cost in this world, that same thing is nourishing our body,it is circulating life in our body, providing us good health. The sky (The Sun and the Moon), air, fire, water, earth (plants, food, fruits, vegetables, herbs) – all the five basic elements are being provided to us by nature free of cost. Whenever the human being has extracted the elements with his polluted, selfish and greedy attitude, has tried to control them or prove his authority, has made them the source of earning, that time they have become ineffective. Those elements have become the alternative for business instead of charity. Today’s human being with his materialistic thoughts has become blind due to his selfish interest. At times, his behavior is so condemning, hateful, devilish and wicked that words totter to call him a human. It is a matter of great grief that today such demons have entered the field of medicine. It is because of these demons that the charity, an alternative for medical science has become a business today. Even a business has some rules and regulations, policies -methods, basic ideals, limitations, respect and decency but medication has become a worthless thing beyond business and has itself become deformed that it is difficult to address it with a suitable name, because there is no word in the dictionary which can express this feeling. I would like to enumerate a few examples here to clarify my concept.

Earning in the field of medication is absolutely definite, therefore an individual who has the idea of business wants to enter this field. Actually, here the attraction and awareness towards the field of medicine exists, that every person treats himself to be a doctor. If there is a group of four people and a person comes with the complaint of headache or stomach- ache, then believe me all the four persons will show the eagerness to give their own tips to the patient. These tips will be related to the field of homeopathy, allopathic, Unani, Ayurvedic, natural and yogic. Out of them, a few will claim the self-experienced yoga and guarantee the cure. Headache and stomachache may not necessarily have one reason, but can have many reasons. Treatment continues in spite of cure, but cure has no meaning or importance for these four doctors. Nobody has the time to think of the harm, which can be caused to somebody due to this anxiousness. Though such advices are given free of cost, are given with a feeling of charity, but what will be the result if a razor is given in the hands of a monkey? It is not the work of every person to give medical advise, this is the right of a doctor and should be safe in his hands. However, if the doctor himself is incomplete, inexperienced, fraud, false, then what will happen? Today the field of medicine is flooded with such people.

This is the case of 1986. On 17 March, the then police commissioner Brijlal learnt that one of his constables suddenly prefixed the word “Dr’ in front of his name and he was surprised about this because his constable was always present with him. How did he get the time to take the training in medicine? A doubt was created in his mind, that he might have acquired a false doctor’s degree. He called him and wanted to know the truth. In the first instance, that constable made some lame excuses, but afterwards with the fear of loosing the job, he revealed all the facts. The commissioner showed curiosity at his own level, with the help of police, enacted a drama as if he has purchased the fake certificate, and disclosed the scam of not one but four such institutes, which used to issue fake certificates to doctors. These institutes, which were minting crores of rupees, were running with the political support. One of the institutes was The Private Medical Practitioners of India ‘. This institute made 98 thousand doctors in Uttar Pradesh and other states and earned around six crores. It was first time in the history of the nation that an institute giving fake certificates in such a huge number was caught red handed. It used to issue fake certificates by charging one to two thousand rupees. Dr. Ajay Kumar Choudhary was the Manager of this institute running in Lucknow. The police recovered thousands of fake certificates, identity cards, seals and documents from this institute. Till that time, the institute had issued PAPM degrees to 46573 people in Uttar Pradesh and 42129 people in other states. This institute was carrying on its business since 1958. The police also recovered the records of renewing the certificates. It was also found that the manager, Ajay Kumar himself did not possess a doctor’s degree, though he was definitely a pharmacist before. The Head office of the institute was situated at Bahadurgunj, New Delhi with branches in every state. Ajay Choudhary had made all the arrangements to protect himself and he normally stayed with the prominent political leaders of the state and nation.

In the same way, on 18 March, the police raided another institute, located at 18, Makbara Road, Hazratgunj, Lucknow, called ‘ State Rural Medical Council ‘, which used to distribute PMPA (Private Medical Practitioner) degrees. Its directors were Ramgopal Tandon and Navroop Asthana. Here also they recovered thousands of fake certificates, seals and other records. This institute had made around 11 thousand quacks. This institute used to issue fake degrees for just four to five hundred rupees and renew the degrees annually for a sum of Rs 50. The head of this fake institute Ramgopal Tandon was also publishing a fortnightly magazine titled, ‘Jai Ambe’. ‘Jai Ambe’ was printed at Jai printing press in Aishbagh. The magazine was only a medium; actually fake doctor’s degrees were being printed at this press.

Before these incidences, on 9 January the police had caught hold of an institute ‘Rural Medical Practitioners Council of Uttar Pradesh’ and ‘International Acupuncture Research Center and Charitable Center ‘. The Chief Director Dr . Ashok Choudhary also came into the trap, which had made six thousand doctors in the past three months without any educational standards. 28 people were working in this institute. He had made three former IAS officers as his advisors, whose names were Shrilal Shukla, Bhawani Shankar Shukla and Ramchandra Hakal. Besides them several retired officers were employed in this institute. Ashok Choudhary used to prefix his name with ‘Dr’ and suffix with ‘ M.D ‘ (Doctor of Medicine). Afterwards, he defined the word ‘M.D’ as Managing Director.

In the whole incidence, on one hand it shows the active ness of police and on the other hand serious carelessness also comes to limelight. The police could have disclosed the scam of the institutes in 1983 itself instead of 1986, when officers of National Medical Council, Uttar Pradesh had brought out a list of 29 institutes, which were issuing fake certificates and making doctors. But the matter kept on hanging because of the carelessness of top administrative officers along with the police of not providing the necessary information about the case. The list published by the council included the names of B.I.M.S Madhunagar (Agra), All India M.S. Educational Institute Lalitpur, (Jhansi), National Medical College (Firozabad), Bharat Ashram (Sargadh), All India religious-spiritualistic Sanskrit Educational Institute, Ayurvedic College (Hapud) and other institutes, which were issuing fake doctor’s degrees in full swing. As a result of the agitation created by police raids in Lucknow, a few institutes out of these had suspended their work for some time. However, it will not be a surprise if they start operating after some time with different names. In such matters, what happens is that the fake institutes operate in full swing for some years with the support of police and administration because they also have the political shield. Then suddenly, the police and administration make a false raid on the institutes by being hand in glove with them and are seen taking the praises. After some time, the institutes are seen operating in some other place in some different name. This business is being carrying on continuously and will remain till such time that corrupt police; administration and leaders work hand in glove.

When Balwant Arora was arrested for operating a fake degree college in Delhi, then he informed the police that he had sold more than 40 thousand M.B.B.S and B.M.S degrees in Delhi alone. According to the former president of Delhi Medical Association and present member of the working committee of D.M.S, there are around 40 thousand quacks and fake doctors in the capital city alone. If we talk of the whole nation it will reach to some lakhs. Even after this warning why is the police and administration inactive? On 26 March 2004, Delhi Health Minister Dr.Yoganand Shastri had called a joint meeting of representatives of Medical Association and Drug Control and Health Departments announced the formation of special teams to recognize and catch hold of these quacks. These teams would consist of representatives of D.M.A, Drug Control, Health Department and various non-government organizations. The plan was to raid the clinics of the quacks along with the local police teams. Although nine to ten months have passed after this announcement but nothing fruitful has been carried out in this matter. The main reason for this inaction is the corrupt system, which we have inherited. In such cases, the political shield is definitely present and hence it takes years for such daring acts to materialize.

The quacks are a curse in the medical field, because these human demons take the advantage of the condition of the poor patients and their helplessness. In the greed of making huge profits and selling cheap medicine, these people encourage the business of fake medicines. These fake doctors are nourishing the roots of fake medicine, cheap medicine and these medicines have side effects. The actual fact about this fraud carried on at the cost of people’s health is that everything is being done with the support and reach at the top level. The latest unveiling by the Delhi Police about the group and fake medicines factory in the capital have once again highlighted the fake medicine business being carried on. This fake medicine factory supplies fake medicines not only in Delhi but even in other states. The consumption of these duplicate medicines is not less in Delhi alone. Though the quacks are providing shelter to these medicines, the drug suppliers are also selling these medicines in the greed of getting more commission. These medical stores are opened in the name of some pharmacist though people and workers, who have nothing to do with the medical business, manage the shops. This business is getting momentum due to the greed for maximum profits.

The number of quacks is in lakhs, who are spread all over the nation in cities and rural areas. Their business is running successfully parallel to medical business in the whole country. The youth is attracted towards this business due to the increasing problem of unemployment. Their mind is engaged in earning money but not towards the feeling of charity. When today’s youth sees that the educated, highly qualified doctors with big degrees have made this business as a business of grabbing money, then they also develop the greed. When the country in which bribe to the tune of Rs 15 lakhs is given for getting admission in medical field in the name of donation then will not the doctors coming out of such institutes be thieves, dacoits and pick-pockets? Most of the doctors produced from these institutes are a burden on the medical field with half knowl
edge and inexperience. Are all those doctors who are stealing the kidneys, recognizing the fake medicines, exchanging the new born infants, indulging in foeticide in spite of the prohibition, giving injection even if it is not necessary and getting costly tests done in the name of cure, quacks? The people who are polluting the field of medication, which is like charity are highly qualified doctors. When their condition is like this, then whatever the quacks do is still less because they engage in the business with the aim of making money. According to the report published by All India Institute of Medical Sciences and World Bank, the injection given in 69 per cent of the cases is unsafe, due to which diseases like malaria, Aids and hepatitis and other fatal diseases are spread. The unsafe injections with reference to the quacks are 77 per cent. What is this entire happening in the name of medication? Today’s man is not getting pure air and water. Grains, fruits and vegetables grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not pure. The milk extracted with the help of oxytocin injection is not pure. Pure ghee is not available because of synthetic and adulterated ghee. On top of all this, a person has to definitely suffer with some disease or the other due to increasing preference for tea, coffee, cold drinks, fast food, junk food, toffee, chocolates, biscuits, snacks, paan masala. In spite of this frightening situation, if the prevalence of fake medicines, prohibited medicines, medicines causing side effects increases and the army of quacks increases, then nothing will remain in the name of health in this country. This situation is warning us towards a serious and dangerous future, which should be timely understood and strict punishable and improvement based measures should be implemented on a war footing. Yoga and Ayurveda can prove to be milestones in this direction, whose advantage should be taken to the fullest.