PMA warns 600,000 ‘fake doctors’ operate across country, fueling hepatitis and AIDS through reused syringes
This photo taken on January 8, 2026 shows an unlicensed clinic on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Sindh. PHOTO: AFP
Rusty nails hold used infusion tubes on the wall of a clinic run by one of hundreds of thousands of unqualified doctors operating across Pakistan.
Dozens of patients visit the small roadside shop in Sindh every day, where there are a few chairs arranged around wooden tables used to lie down patients.
“These patients have faith in me. They believe I can treat them well,” said Abdul Waheed, who opened the center a few months ago on the outskirts of the city of Hyderabad.
During the day, the 48-year-old works at a private hospital in Hyderabad. At night, he comes to Tando Saeed Khan’s village to see patients at his clinic, charging 300 rupees ($1) per consultation.
“I have spent a lot of time in this field. I have worked with several doctors. Thank God, I have confidence in diagnosing a patient and treating the disease,” Waheed told AFP.
There is no sign, no registration number, and he has no legal authorization to practice as a doctor.
Waheed, who has a diploma in homeopathy and has completed a four-year nursing course, speaks with confidence.
After examining two young children, he insisted that patients come to him willingly and trust in his abilities.
“No one has questioned me yet. If someone comes, I will see what to do,” he said, reflecting the ease with which unqualified people practice medicine in Pakistan. These unlicensed clinics are often the first, and sometimes only, point of care for poor communities.
Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, general secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are “more than 600,000 fake doctors” operating across Pakistan.
This nationwide figure has been confirmed by the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC), based on estimates from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.
Shoro called this practice a public health epidemic and said these practitioners work with doctors, learn a few things there, and then open their own clinics.
“Unqualified doctors do not know the side effects and exact dosage of medicines. If a disease is not properly diagnosed, it can become dangerous,” Shoro said.
“The instruments they use are not sterilized. They simply wash them with water and continue using them. They reuse the syringes, which increases the spread of hepatitis and AIDS.”
During the visit of AFP journalists, Tando Saeed Khan, another unqualified doctor, immediately closed his clinic and disappeared.
Outside Waheed’s shop, villager Ali Ahmed said there are several such clinics in the area.
“None of them have qualified doctors. People have no training and cannot recognize qualified doctors,” the 31-year-old man told AFP.
Medical experts say this uncontrolled practice has a direct impact on Pakistan’s already strained healthcare system, with tertiary care hospitals overwhelmed by patients whose conditions worsen after inadequate treatment.
Khalid Bukhari, director of Karachi Civil Hospital, said the center regularly receives such cases from across the country.
“They misdiagnose and mistreat patients. Our hospital is overloaded. Most of the cases we receive are the ones they ruined,” said Bukhari, whose public hospital is one of the largest in the country.
“These people are playing with the lives of poor citizens. If people go to the right doctors and receive accurate treatment, they will not need to come to us.”
Regulatory authorities recognize their inability to control the problem.
“We have limited resources. This practice cannot be easily eliminated. If we close 25 establishments, 25 new ones open the next day,” said Ahson Qavi Siddiqi, head of the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC).
The commission recently sealed a bungalow in Karachi that had been operating as a hospital – with intensive care units for children and adults – because it was not registered.
“The law against it is weak. We file cases, but the accused get bail the next day because it is a bailable offence,” Siddiqi told AFP.
The official also described the serious security threats facing inspection teams.
“These people are influential in their areas. In many cases, our teams are taken hostage. They shoot at us. I do not have the strength to take strong action,” said the SHCC chief.
Shoro said the practice also financially destroys families who are left with large hospital bills when something goes wrong.
