Checking a quack
Kumarsirik
(Querist) 15 January 2015
This query is : Resolved
I was not sure under which legal section this query may be asked.
There is a guy in our neighborhood who runs a Counseling center.
Services advertised are Psychiatry, Indian Psychology, Yoga, Personality Development and a host of services that would attract a gullible common man who is keen to get rid of his/her sufferings.
His organization is not registered, neither he is certified in any of the above faculties. He is only a post graduate in commerce and recently flunked in a post grad course in Psychology.
He gains lot of popularity through usage of stray terminologies in Vedic scriptures. He is incapable of elaborating on these terms. A brief synopsis of Bhagavat Gita is all that he mastered.
For a person suffering from any psychological disorder some of the verbose he uses may actually give comfort. Unfortunately, a better researched option that could have been administered by a true professional will be a lack to the seeker.
However, I noted that in order to gain more power and popularity he manipulates situations such that the innocent client believes that a treatment is imminent with him and end up shelling huge amounts as fee. these days he reduced his charges to increase client count. Earlier, he charged between 30k to 50k for a 5 day counseling package.
There are occasions when he tries to convince an otherwise normal person to undergo treatment with him.
My pity on him is that he recovered from a disease called polymyositis that destroyed his health totally. After a decade and a half of steroid treatment he is now in remission. He uses his ailment to gain sympathy from his clients.
End of the day, I feel that his lack of professionalism and greed for name, fame and money may cause irreversible consequences to his clients. He is also registered as doctor in some of the websites that fix appointments for him. He never gives a bill to his clients nor pays up taxes.
He associates with spiritual teachers and gets himself photographed along with them show cases these photographs and testimonials, which is another way of wooing clients. I saw him paying money to an organization that does Sanman functions. He received shawls from people in the higher echelons many times. Even Governor of a state felicitated him. This Sanman company charges a fee to get this done. Perfect marketing and advertising.
He has a certificate pasted on the wall which is duly signed by Obama. This he acquired for 50$ through an agent in the US.
His ways of attracting clients is by deceit. His treatments are not proven. His income is unknown. He has no statutory registrations and bindings. He is a classic case of a quack, a self imposed Baba.
Whenever, there is dissent from an aggrieved client he manages to push the conflict under the carpet and sometime settle with the warring person through monetary compensation.
I was shocked when he suggested a full term pregnant woman to do Bastrika yoga (the process of pulling your stomach inside with force and exhale). The lady did not cooperate though.
When science is so advanced there are many innocent people who fall prey to such quacks. Very rarely a complaint is lodged in these circumstances.
Reasons why legal recourse is not taken.
1. a complainant would feel embarrassed to expose that he/she sought help from a quack.
2. Building evidence is impossible.
3. When conflicts are settled within the four walls people bury hatchets.
Everyday we see at least one baba coming to limelight and these days even on account of notoriety. There is absolutely nothing in the society to check the trend of dangerous healers.
Is there any legal strategy that can be employed to nip the bud in this particular case.
What is role of MCI in ascertaining researched, standardized and professionally enriched therapies are made available to the citizens and not those that are unscientific, irrational and idiotic? There are many alternative medicines which are based on a certain schools of thought, purported by research works et al.,
In this milieu faith healers and pseudo philosophers are making merry. They think they pose a challenge to scientific spirit. Never do they discern that scientific spirit is actually spiritualism of the highest order. I was terribly irked when a Guru exclaimed that Scientist may find the God particle, but, will fail to understand the gap between these particles. It is only "Atma Darshan" that will enable one to see this gap.(What nonsense?) Immediately, the thousands of devotees clap in unison. An Asylum is a better place compared to this Guru Sishya Parampara. There are really good philosophers and the above illustration is not to be attribute to such noble souls.
I wanted to file an RTI application seeking veracity of services by this organization. But, I do not know which department of the Government is responsible in controlling such malpractices. These treatments are more dangerous than female feoticide. They dislodge and disintegrate ones psychological framework, transfer lot of money from the seeker to the healer.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 15 January 2015
you can lodge police complaint against the fake psychiatrist .
Rajendra K Goyal
(Expert) 15 January 2015
gather proofs against the person. No fruitful purpose can be solved till any effected person lodge complaint with proofs. Without proofs the culprit may not be nabbed.
Sri Vijayan.A
(Expert) 15 January 2015
You cannot be the complainant.
Kumarsirik
(Querist) 15 January 2015
Can RTI act come to aid in seeking Information froM concerned authority about permits issued to such errant therapy centers.? If so who is accountable froM govt in putting a tab on the.?
Guest
(Expert) 15 January 2015
RTI cannot be used for a private person or organisation.
Devajyoti Barman
(Expert) 16 January 2015
rti HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
You can file complaint with POLICE and Medical Council of India.
The MCI has power to direct local police to cause necessary investigation in this connection.
malipeddi jaggarao
(Expert) 16 January 2015
If you are keen, you can muster the support of some of his dissatisfied customers and together, you can make a police complaint, not only in the P.S., but also by meeting the concerned Commissioner of Police. The other way is you can invite the media people to probe into the matter.
Guest
(Expert) 16 January 2015
Dear Mr. Kumarsirik,
Evidently, this is not your personal problem, if you have not taken any treatment from him. But, your long story about your neighbour gives a clear inkling, as if you have some personal enmity with your neighbour.
However, unless you are able to prove that he practises in medications without any qualification in that stream, your complaint to any authority can bounce back on you and also would tend to aggravate personal enmity between both of you, which can harm you more also than him, if he starts taking revenge.
He does not need any license or registration for his services, as counselling for Indian Psychology, Yoga, Personality Development, etc., unless he publicises himself as a Psychiatrist, which is a medical stream. Psychiatry adn psychiatrist are two distinct terms, indicating, (1) disese, and (2) a person healing that disease. Counselling for psychiatry, without prescribing any medicine merely by using his psychological traits/processes or recommending a patient to approach to some specialist (a qualified psychiatrist) is not a crime.
So far the disease, "polymyositis" is concerned, even a renowned USA hospital, "Mayo Clinic" admits that there is no specific cure with the medical sciences for polymyositis. The stated disease is said to be "an uncommon inflammatory disease that causes muscle weakness." If without using any medication, your so called counseller neighbour heals the patient by boosting his will power through psycholocal processes or through physical exercises, he would be doing no crime. You may like to go through description given by the Mayo Clinic at the following web link:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polymyositis/basics/definition/CON-20020710
I have plenty of examples where specialists (MD qualified doctors) gave wrong treatment for months together and then declared the patient to be suffering from cancer, but an ordinary Ayurveda practitioner healed him to make him perfectly OK to enjou life still today after 16 years of that treatment; or a specialist treated a patient for four months by wrongly diagnosing his disease as Tuberculosis (TB) instead of cancer, and played havoc with his health to make him bed ridden nearing death, but now recovered after taking treatment of cancer:; or a well qualified and experienced doctor recommended a patient for operation of Appendicitis when he was unable to diagnose the disease for several days, but an ordinary Ayurveda physician diagnosed that correctly as gastroentitis and treated just for two days to make his health perfect. SHOULD THOSE SPECIALISTS NOT BE TREATED AS QUACKS, IN YOUR VIEWS?
So, better weigh pros & cons of the issue before taking some revengeful action, if he is not practising any medicine or not using the term psychiatrist for himself. You will have to prove his as a quack. If proved wrong, he can sue you for claiming hefty amount for damages.
Even, being a project manager, you can also become a counseller/ consultant in your own specialisation to help others to get benefitted from your faculties and specialization.
Kumarsirik
(Querist) 16 January 2015
Dingra Sir
You hit the nail on the head. Thank you very much in throwing holistic light on the entire matter. I fully agree with you and prefer not to pursue the matter further. Every bit you addressed is as if you possess extrasensory perception.
I thank all the experts who have enlightened me with you advices.
With consent from all I close this Query
Guest
(Expert) 16 January 2015
You are welcome, dear.
I believe in rationality based on solid evidence only.
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate
(Expert) 18 January 2015
Appreciate and admire the way expert Mr. Dhingra opined and handled the query. Hope the author will not venture into any such complaining ideas without knowing what exactly he does.
