An interesting facet of medical practice in india has been the enormous success of quacks and the unquestioning faith patients repose in such people. i have seen horrendous treatments, cancers treated with placebos till they become terminal-steroids prescribed till the patient becomes either diabetic, or the bones become brittle-the list is endless. i wonder as to why the medical fraternity does not become more patient friendly 
and convince people of the need to consult properly qualified practitioners-ayurveda, homeopathy or allopathy-all sticking to their fields.
             I would like to narrate a few tales of my encounters with quacks and allow readers to reach their own conclusions.
              During the short gap between internship and postgraduation i was practising in a small village ,where my  main competitor was a quack-n.s-who had a reputation for treating snake bites and since 90 % of snake bites are nonpoisonous got an undeserved reputation as a supreme healer. his comeuppance was when he himself was bitten by a snake ,and he rushed to my clinic, thrusting aside waiting patients and in full view of about 25-30 interested spectators,literally fell at my feet-begging for his life-incidentally what bit him was a nonpoisonous snake.
                  In my town plastered on the walls of most localities is an advertisement of a quack called dr. b..
who as advertised is supposed to be an expert at treating piles, fistula ,and fissure-this without a degree.
one fine day i got a call from a patient of mine stating that his brother who had to go to the gulf the next day and wanted a quick solution to his problem with piles had gone to the above doctor, and after treatment had landed up with problems. i asked him to come over -and when the patient did come in-or rather sidled in , i found he was bent over in obvious anguish, with a hand placed protectively over his buttock. on examining his posterior-i found that the whole area around the anus was denuded of skin and was a foul smelling raw area-what this quack must have done is -to apply a very severe caustic to the rectal area to burn the piles-unfortunately burning everything in the vicinity-the patient was still not blaming the quack -in fact his demand was that i cure him within one day!
                      My next tale concerns two brothers in law in their seventies who became victims of another fraud perpetrated by quacks-there are a lot of patients in india with hydrocele-which is a swelling of the testis because of a collection of fluid around it-this can be properly treated only with surgery-what some quacks do is put a needle inside and draw out the fluid-the patient is momentarily happy-but it is not a lasting solution-because the fluid will reaccumulate and more importantly-the introduction of a needle will result in an infection.
i have digressed-speaking of the two brothers in law -the first one a 72 year old diabetic was brought to hospital
with frank pus around the testis-as a result of the needling technique-and what was of concern with signs of generalised sepsis and uncontrolled diabetes-and the only answer was removal of the testis, very high antibiotic coverage and skilled care in the icu. to add spice to the tale this gentlemans similarly aged brotherin law landed up with me in a similar shape-and this procedure was done a week after the other gentleman landed up in hospital with complications. i wish our patients have this much faith in us!

                 my last tale regarding a quack is as regards a lady who was brought to me a year ago with a huge  swelling in the abdomen-visible to the naked eye-as a result of a colonic cancer-this lady had alternating episodes of constipation  and diarrhoea-one of the first signs of colonic cancer and was treated for six months
with alternate regimens of antidiarrhoeal and anti constipation agents-by a quack without a single examination of the  abdomen-not that the examination of the abdomen would have made a difference-because the senses percieve what the brain sees.
          I do not think there is any other country in the world wherethis sort of  cynical disregard for life is encouraged-rather than discouraged.
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