In response to complaints regarding the rising number of fake medical practitioners and fake medical centres in the country, this week, the health authorities announced that they are taking newer and stringent measures to deal with them. The Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena has said that based on the available data and also discussions with the private health services regulatory authorities, the relevant authorities have been instructed to get private medical practitioners to register.
As a first step, the health authorities’ initiative is admirable, and hopefully, it will be carried out systematically and honestly. If implemented properly, this initiative will rid the private health sector of at least a few quacks. However, fake medical practitioners and fake medical centres were issues that exist beyond the legal registration of such persons and facilities, and addressing it, therefore, requires a holistic approach that is not confined to their legal registration.
While paying attention to ensuring that medical practitioners and medical centres obtain legal registration is important, it is also important to monitor their adherence to the rules and regulations applicable to such registration because there are claims of legally registered medical centres engaging in acts that are out of bounds. At the same time, since there are reports of questionable acts on the part of private medical centres when it comes to recruiting medical practitioners, legal registration-related activities should focus on not only individual medical practitioners and private medical centres but also medical practitioners attached to legally registered private medical centres.
Perhaps, it is high time for the health authorities to conduct an islandwide survey to identify and evaluate private medical practitioners and private medical centres, which will pave the way for legal actions against individuals and facilities that are not qualified or registered to provide health services. In addition, to improve transparency and to support evaluation programmes such as the proposed survey, making it mandatory to publicly display the proof of qualifications of private medical practitioners and private medical centres will also be useful.
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that what the laws and regulations can do in this regard is limited. There are countless private medical practitioners that operate in remote areas and in small communities who may not be checked under the health authorities’ large-scale programmes. Therefore, to reach such individuals that may not be easily reached and also to ensure the people’s right to proper healthcare services, the people, or patients, should be empowered in terms of knowledge about their rights as patients. In parallel to the aforesaid programme focusing on legal registrations, the health authorities should raise awareness among the public about why they should question health service providers and how they should do that. In addition to providing knowledge, efforts should be made to change conservative attitudes that tell ordinary citizens that professionals such as doctors should not be questioned and are worthy of unconditional respect.
The issue of fake medical practitioners and fake medical centres playing with people’s lives is not new. However, it has intensified during the past few years, particularly following the peak of the economic crisis. As the public health sector was weakened by the economic crisis, long queues, shortages of medicines and equipment, and doctors leaving the country compelled many ordinary citizens to seek affordable private medical services, while the private health sector was always an option for the wealthy. While there is nothing wrong with the private health sector expanding to cater to increased or evolving requirements, in that process, quality should not be compromised.
Overall, while legal, regulatory and policy measures are of great importance, it is time for Sri Lanka to open up to the idea that even patients have rights, and more importantly, that medical practitioners have a responsibility to be transparent about their qualifications and to respect patients’ rights.