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Is your pet clinic registered? Check again. Hadapsar’s illegal veterinary centre shuts down following notice from Maharashtra state veterinary council
“The centre, My Pet Care Clinic owned by Ishita Lal, was found to have violated the Indian Veterinary Council (IVC) Act 1984, which says that if any person falsely claims to be a registered member of the MSVC and further uses the description of veterinary practitioner and does not possess the recognised veterinary qualification, uses degree or diploma or a licence or an abbreviation indication or implying such qualifications, he shall be punishable on the first conviction,” said Dr Shridhar Bedarkar, assistant commissioner, MSVC, Nagpur, MS.
After noticing that one of the veterinary centres in the city’s Hadapsar area has violated its norms, the Maharashtra state veterinary council (MSVC) immediately issued a showcause notice on October 12 to the clinic and also directed police authorities to file a criminal offence case against the centre in case they fail to adhere to the notice sent by the council.
“The centre, My Pet Care Clinic owned by Ishita Lal, was found to have violated the Indian Veterinary Council (IVC) Act 1984, which says that if any person falsely claims to be a registered member of the MSVC and further uses the description of veterinary practitioner and does not possess the recognised veterinary qualification, uses degree or diploma or a licence or an abbreviation indication or implying such qualifications, he shall be punishable on the first conviction,” said Dr Shridhar Bedarkar, assistant commissioner, MSVC, Nagpur, MS.
Looking at the violations of the Act, we have instructed the centre to close down immediately, he said.
“A showcause notice to Ishita Lal for closing clinic on 2 was issued on October 12. A cognisable offence was filed by the Hadapsar police against Ishita Lal for opening an illegal clinic on October 15, for the violation of the IVC Act, 1984. This is also a fraud, therefore, civil Section 420 is also applicable for opening the Pet Care Clinic without qualifications, MSVC registration, prescription pad preparation, unauthorised signature, misuse of prescription pad by herself and giving it to others, etc. The income tax sections are also applicable since this is not a registered company with the books of accounts. There is no data about how many cases they treated and how much money they made. We have already explained to this to the police,” added Dr Bedarkar.
Suresh Nanavre, assistant sub-inspector, Hadapsar police station said, “I do not remember exactly about it and will have to check the records.”
However, Bedarkar said, “We received a notification from the Hadapsar police station saying that a clinic opened by Ishita Lal as My Pet Care was being run illegally. We inspected it and found illegalities and it was observed that the owners were running the clinic only to make money and duping pet owners; this is a serious complaint and one cannot put any patient’s life at risk.”
He added, “The council after verifying the credentials of the owner Ishita Lal, and her husband Lalit Kumar noticed that they both were not registered with the Council and also lacked required qualification. This is a serious offence and hence, the Council also directed the police to file and lodge a criminal offence against the couple in case they fail to shut down their centre with immediate effect. The Council has not only written to the local police officials of the Hadapsar police station, but also the police commissioner as well. We have also demanded a report from them at the earliest.”
When crosschecked with the owners of the clinic, who have been accused of violating the norms and Council’s Act, Lalit Kumar husband of Ishita Lal, confirmed receiving the notice sent by MSVC, and said, “We have already stopped the functioning of our clinic and it is true that we are not registered with the MSVC and lack the required qualifications; henceforth we will follow the Council’s protocol to avoid mishaps and issues.”
In the spotlight:
Throwing more light on the issue, Dr Bedarkar said, “This is the same clinic where MSVC had immediately acted upon a complaint received from a resident named Yogesh Gawali from Hadapsar who had claimed medical negligence regarding his pet who died in the month of May this year. It was a golden retriever who died and MSCV for the first time suspended two veterinary doctors for causing medical negligence. The doctors who were suspended, Dr Dilip Sonune and Dr A Gujarathi, belonged to this My Pet Care Clinic run by Ishita Lal.”
Meanwhile, Dr Sonune, too, has filed a police complaint against the owners of the clinic and he had also sent a legal notice to Ishita Lal and her husband. Dr Sonune said, “I never saw the pet who lost his life due to medical negligence. I was in the hospital and was facing several issues back then. I had to face the brunt of MSVC bevcause of the owners and their misdeed. Hence, I have demanded a compensation of ₹5,00000 for causing trouble and misdeed at the clinic and have even demanded to shut down the clinic. Finally, the MSVC has taken cognisance of the complaints made by us and the police.”
