Two more quacks held during crackdown in Tiruvallur district

With the latest action, the total number of quacks arrested in Tiruvallur has gone up to 35. 

Sources said that Vasantha Kumar (57), who was running a clinic adjacent to the medical shop at Kadamabathur prescribing allopathy drugs to his visitors, was picked up by a team of health officials on Friday and handed over to the police. 

Similarly, Komagan (33), who held a bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy, was also arrested for prescribing allopathy medicines, in Perambakkam. 

Talking to DTNext, D Mohanan, joint health director, Tiruvallur, said, “Vasantha Kumar claimed that he had been practising as doctor only for the last few years. But we doubt his version, as he was arrested once in 2011. We found syringes and dressing material from Vasantha Kumar’s clinic adjacent to the medical shop run by him. Komagan had been practising as an allopathy doctor for the last seven years as, though he only had a degree in physiotherapy.” 

The drive commenced late last year and was intensified after the recent fever outbreak, which reportedly claimed 8 kids. A few of them after catching up the fever had visited quacks initially. 

In the last two months alone, 27 quacks were arrested in the district, said Mohanan. Three paramedical colleges operating without licenses were also sealed.