Alarming Inaction Against Quack Doctors in Delhi: RTI and CAG Audit Reveal Systemic Regulatory Failures

A recent Right to Information (RTI) response from the Delhi Medical Council (DMC), coupled with a comprehensive performance audit of Delhi's health regulatory framework, has exposed significant failures in addressing the operation of quack doctors throughout the national capital.

The data reveals alarming statistics: only one case was registered against an unqualified practitioner in 2025, while 2024 saw zero cases forwarded. Although the DMC referred 11 cases to Delhi Police for FIR registration in 2021, this number decreased to just five annually in both 2022 and 2023. Police action directly corresponds to these figures, indicating enforcement is strictly limited to cases the DMC actively pursues.

In its RTI response, the DMC explicitly stated it does not conduct anti-quackery raids or inspections. Instead, this responsibility falls to district-level Chief District Medical Officers (CDMOs) under the Delhi government's Directorate General of Health Services. This effectively means the legal body tasked with regulating modern medical practice in Delhi has no direct field-level enforcement against unqualified practitioners.

RTI activist Dr. Aman Kaushik addressed these concerns in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, requesting urgent government intervention to enhance inspections, ensure prompt legal action, establish an online portal for reporting quacks, and publish regular updates on FIRs and inspections to promote transparency and accountability.

Despite clear legal provisions empowering the DMC to act against unqualified practitioners and numerous complaints, enforcement has been minimal, often delayed for years, and virtually non-existent in recent times.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit discovered that approximately 42 percent of doctors had not renewed their mandatory registration by May 2022, raising fundamental compliance concerns. The audit also revealed that in 14 complaint cases examined between 2017 and 2022, no inspections were conducted whatsoever, demonstrating significant follow-up failures.

Enforcement against quacks has proven extremely weak. Between 2016 and September 2022, police registered FIRs against only 40 unqualified practitioners despite identifying 335 such individuals—representing action in a mere 12 percent of cases. The audit further noted that the Council did not pursue matters when police failed to act, leaving numerous cases unresolved.

The audit highlighted that the DMC's Anti-Quack Response Team (AQRT) failed to conduct even a single surprise raid during the review period. The CAG explicitly stated this inaction allows quacks to "operate with impunity" as deterrence is "non-existent."

In its 2022 response to auditors, the DMC attributed delays to CDMOs and police reluctance to register FIRs. However, the audit dismissed these justifications, asserting that curbing unqualified medical practice in Delhi remains the DMC's statutory responsibility.

The RTI response demonstrates extremely limited ground-level action. In 2020, the Council received no inspection reports whatsoever. Subsequent years showed only modest activity: 11 reports in 2021, 19 in 2022, 9 each in 2023 and 2024, and 22 reports thus far in 2025. These figures suggest minimal monitoring in a city exceeding 20 million residents.

The situation is further aggravated by the CAG's findings of massive inspection delays, with some reports submitted between 16 and 2,289 days late, indicating regulatory processes have been deteriorating for years.

According to the Delhi Medical Council's website, the number of unregistered clinics shut down has steadily decreased: 154 in 2016, 84 in 2017, 43 in 2018, 23 in 2019, 12 in 2021, 15 in 2022, and just 10 in 2023.

The combined RTI data and audit findings reveal a consistent pattern of minimal inspections, extended delays, and inadequate enforcement even when unqualified practitioners are identified. Consequently, quacks continue operating freely throughout the capital, creating a regulatory vacuum that endangers public health.