Patna, July 7: The health department is in no mood to take stern action against unqualified doctors (quacks) even after getting a directive in this regard from Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) today.

BHRC issued a letter to the director-in-chief, health services, R.D. Ranjan, to launch statewide action against quacks. The commission's directive comes in the wake of a Jehanabad case in which a fake doctor wrongly cut the urinary passage of a pregnant woman during a Caesarean section. The complainant, Rita Devi, had complained to the commission, which found the complaint to be true.

"We found out that the doctor, who did the Caesarean section, was not qualified to conduct the operation. The doctor happened to be a fake one. Today, we issued a letter to the health department, including the director-in-chief, health services and principal health secretary to launch a drive against the quacks. We would monitor whether the health department implements our directive or not," said BHRC member Neel Mani.

Ranjan, however, told this correspondent that his department was not thinking about launching any kind of drive against the quacks, rather they would stick to the department's plan to train quacks under one-year training programme designed by the National Institute of Open Schooling.

People of medical associations had mixed views on the health department decision. "Presently, quacks are doing surgeries in rural areas whether it is Caesarean section or some eye-related operation or any other operation. Doctors undergo difficult training to qualify for practice. The one-year degree won't help quacks at all," said Bihar Health Services Association general secretary Ranjit Kumar.

However, vice-president of Indian Medical Association Sunil Kumar Singh said: "The state trains quacks to make them able to treat minor ailments. Is there anything bad if quacks act as supporting system in the healthcare system?" asked Singh.