Buddha (BC568-488)

 Medical fraud and quackery, the identical twin evils, are older than medicine. From astrology to aromatherapy, iridology to exorcism, homeopathy to Chinese herbal medicine, chelation therapy to chiropractic, man has attempted several logical or outright ignorant methods to prevent morbidity, achieve more vigour, better his health or prolong his lifespan. It was not until the early 20^th century that the difference between mainstream medicine and quackery started getting clearer- no small thanks to the advance in science. However modern day medical fraud and quackery is making this line of demarcation blunter by the day. In the 1780s, both advertising pseudomedicine on chariots, Dr Weisleder 'the Moon Doctor of Berlin' mesmerized the Berliners while Dr Mesner conned the Parisians with his animal magnetism theory; however the power of the internet and mass media has widen the appeal, scale and depth of modern day medical chicanery. The psychological sine qua non in health fraud and quackery – laying false claims, exploiting people's unfounded fears and unrealistic expectations, and appealing to the very basic elements of human vulnerability - has remained unchanged; in fact it is refined more than ever.

 Quackery is pretense to medical skill and knowledge; it is the use of unsubstantiated and scientifically unacceptable methods (regardless of the sincerity of the practitioner) while health fraud is the promotion, for profit, of a medical remedy, advice, device, method or procedure known to be false or unproven. It is deliberate deception; in Nigerian language it is a 'medical 419'. Today, quackery and medical fraud are garbed as alternative, holistic, complementary or integrative medicine. A developing concept is the multilevel marketing of medical remedies and devices. While some promoters of quackery are sincere and believe in what they are doing others are master manipulators with bogus PhD degrees from 'University of Toronto'. Some quacks actually have reputable scientific training but have gone astray. This is common with registered nurses and midwives. They are what Victor Herbert called 'vitamin pushers', for no treatment is complete without a tonne of multivitamins, and everybody must pop in a pill a day!

 Nigeria is awashed today with a potpourri of medical frauds and quacks shouting themselves hoarse promoting catholicons on peak hour teevee and radio programmes.

 With the liberalization of the information sector, the number of TV and radio stations has multiplied. The primary motive is profit for the owners of these outfits but must this be at the expense of the overriding public interest? The public is not complaining one would say but this is because they lack the necessary information to discern. Was the cigarette industry not this adorned despite some lone medical voices in the wilderness? By allowing transmission, most times live, and issuing no disclaimer to the content of the infomercials, the public is being misinformed that there is some truth and merit in the scheme. At the forefront of this charade are NTA's New Dawn at Ten when Funmi Iyanda was the anchor, LTV, MITV and AIT amongst others. (Funmi is genial but I stopped watching New Dawn at Ten on that account). In the nearest future, I foresee class action suits a la lung cancer suits against cigarette and asbestos makers and their advertisers.

 In 1975, eighteen Nobel Prize winners led the pack of 186 preeminent scientists of the day to publicly condemn astrology which hitherto enjoyed the status of 'science' and was widely employed in alternative medicine. The National Academy of Sciences followed suit by disclaiming pseudoscience while the Russian Academy of Science signed a petition in 1998 denouncing the very heart of alternative practice- yet again, pseudoscience. If there are ever impartial discerning scientific minds, this was it! Science, as Herbert Spencer said, is organized knowledge. All these scientists could not have been wrong on the same issue at the same time.

 But wait a minute, what are the Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Nigeria doing on the shams being paraded for fibroids and infertility? What is the Pediatrics Association of Nigeria doing on teething mixtures before My Pikin? Or the Nigerian Academy of Science on the multilevel marketers like GNLD, Tianshi, Tasly Kasly, Forever Living etc? Or the Sickle Cell Association of Nigeria on the traditional or holy water 'cures' for sickle cell disease? Or the Nigerian Society for the Study of the Liver on these concoctions for 'yellow fever'? Or the National Broadcasting Commission on its powers to prevent misinformation on the air? Government, regulatory bodies, NGOs and other relevant repositories of knowledge, executive power and public interest need to come up with impartial positions on these frauds before we have the likes of the anti-obesity drugs' (Pondimin and Redux) debacle that rocked the American alternative medicine industry in 1997/98.

 Quackery is not limited to the local gbogbonse on your street who can afford to decorate an office or advertise on the radio but whose methods and materiel are crude and without merit. While it is disappointing to see qualified health professionals promote quackery and health fraud, yet cases like this abound especially here where everybody is a 'doctor'. But why would a qualified health professional stake his name in health fraud? Why would a medical doctor mire his status in quackery? Greed, the profit motive and prophet tendency are primal.

 Likewise is low professional esteem and boredom. Nonphysicians who do not believe their professions are sufficiently appreciated sometimes compensate by making extravagant claims. So we find masseurs treating 'dislocated uterus'; laboratory assistants treating typhoid fever (typhoid again? Yes editor, typhoid fever); optometrists treating diabetic retinopathy with lenses; radiographers diagnosing oligospermia on ultrasonography alone! One comical registered nurse regularly comes on air to upgrade her specious infertility treatment techniques that can, as she claims, put ICST, ZIFT, GIFT and other modern ART in the dustbin! This is like comparing the local gun backed with incantations to the laser guided missile. It is nauseating.

 Even physicians may want to raise their personal or practices' statuses by pretension. By claiming to cure cancer or to reverse heart disease without bypass surgery, GPs can elevate themselves above the highly trained oncologists or cardiologists. By claiming to heal diseases that mainstream medicine has honestly dismissed, though at times with some brusqueness, alternative medical practitioners advance temporarily above the physician on the social status. Psychologists, faith healers, physicians, actors, or others who become health gurus often become the darlings of the popular press. Remember New Dawn at Ten?

Robot  # 1 | 06.01.2009 23:22

Sound health is the greatest of Read the full article.

dansatzen  # 2 | 07.01.2009 03:45

I agree with you on the ills of quackery in the medical profession, and there are lots of it here. More than that, even in conventional hospitals, I have wondered many times why someone will go to school for eight years and come out to be doing guess work, I dont know for readers, but I have had that feeling many times when seeing our Doctors, not that I blame them, something must just be wrong with our system. But you should have been more specific on what it was you saw on Funmi Iyanda's show that made you stopped watching it, I hardly watch the show but the way you put it without been specific, it's like just rubishing her for no reason in your good article, something personal?

Sapele Man  # 3 | 07.01.2009 04:01

=dansatzen;309685>I agree with you on the ills of quackery in the medical profession, and there are lots of it here. More than that, even in conventional hospitals, I have wondered many times why someone will go to school for eight years and come out to be doing guess work, I dont know for readers, but I have had that feeling many times when seeing our Doctors, not that I blame them, something must just be wrong with our system. But you should have been more specific on what it was you saw on Funmi Iyanda's show that made you stopped watching it, I hardly watch the show but the way you put it without been specific, it's like just rubishing her for no reason in your good article, something personal? dansatzen No, the author can't be too specific without being taken to the cleaners! We know what happens in Nigeria. I witnessed a surgical operation that reminded me of stories in medical history books of the 18th century.

Dr Abayomi Waheed  # 4 | 07.01.2009 14:11

it is nothing personal against Ms Funmi jIyanda. She is genial and hardworking, I always wish her well in her endeavors. Thanks for your observation.