KASUR, March 3: Citizens are falling a victim to quackery in the length and breadth of the district because of alleged negligence of the health department.

The department is alleged to have been patronizing the quacks, who have claimed several lives only in the past few months.

A survey conducted by Dawn reveals that scores of self-proclaimed doctors have set up clinics in every market and residential area. They take advantage of people's ignorance and meagre financial resources. Most of these quacks claim that they have the ability to treat all kinds of diseases, including hepatitis, for which they charge high fees from the gullible people.

The menace is all the more alarming in rural areas where the so-called practitioners are doing a roaring business. Reports of deaths and prolonged ailments due to improper treatment by quacks have been pouring in for long.

Doctors of the district and tehsil headquarters' hospitals have confirmed the alarming situation, claiming that among their patients are the victims of quackery who visit them only when their ailments aggravate. They have urged the government to take measures to wipe out the menace.

A self-proclaimed doctor, who requested anonymity, told this correspondent that quacks paid Rs750 to Rs1,300 monthly to some of the health department officials to stay in the business.

Dr S.M. Safdar of the Kasur Doctors Association said over 800 quacks were operating in the city - treating patients suffering from different diseases and performing all kinds of surgery. He said the association had served notices on the health department many times to proceed against the quacks, but to no avail.

He further said the district Nazim had assured a KDA delegation of launching a crackdown on quacks, but nothing had been done so far. Union council Nazims Haji Javed Akhtar, Ms Robina Ansari and Advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Ishaq aired complaints at the district council's recent meeting against the EDO (health) who, they said, had failed to take any solid step in this regard.

Mr Akhtar alleged that the EDO in fact did not want to take any step against the quacks because he was sheltering them. The EDO, however, denied the charge. According to reports, a pregnant woman died after she was administered wrong injection by a quack at Phoolnagar on Dec 22, 2004. The incident sparked violence, as a number of people attacked the clinics of quacks.