Senior Reporter
kay-marie.fletcher@guardian.co.tt
Three health groups are sounding an alarm over fake medical practitioners offering dubious cures for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
At a Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting yesterday, representatives of the T&T Cancer Society, Diabetes Association and the T&T Heart Foundation urged the Government to take action against self-proclaimed medical experts, as they believe people’s lives are at risk.
Although the Medical Board Act prohibits people without medical training from calling themselves doctors, the NGOs said there are many people claiming to have cures for diseases, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease, but noted these are unsubstantiated medical claims.
Cancer Society chair Dr Asante Le Blanc said what’s more worrying is that fake medical practitioners are also being given platforms to claim they have the cure.
“Selling snake oil and claiming that they can cure and cure, they have to be stopped. We see it all the time. We also see supplements being put up for recognition and for approval by the Ministry of Health for food and drug, and when you approve them as supplements, they then go on TV and say, ‘We can cure’; and that’s not right,” she said.
Diabetes Association president Dr Andrew Dhanoo added: “I think the State needs to be forceful about this. I think legislation needs to be enacted to bring these people who make these medical claims to criminal prosecution because it really amounts to people being not treated and it means that these people are thinking that they’re getting better and they’re really doing more harm than good and they only show up into the health system when they can’t do anything about it. These people are essentially killing these persons.”
T&T Heart Foundation manager Amit Maharaj also expressed concerns about the misinformation being spread and the false hope it gives to patients in need of treatment.
“Anyone who touts these type of claims should have a medical background to purport what they claim to be and not just providing this hopeful remedy for persons to get better, when in fact they’re just using these person’s money, time and precious resources when they could be rerouted to a specific path to get better,” he said.
Issues such as lack of data, funds, state collaboration and equipment were also shared with the JSC as contributing to the rise of NCDs.
The NGOs also believe that fear drives people to not get tested and continuous public awareness is needed about early screening of all NCDs.