Rs 20,000 in 20 days & the cure

TISA has received following feedback about a Speech therapist in Chandigarh:

“I had around two telephonic discussions with a speech therapist based in Chandigarh in recent past, who assured complete cure for a fee of Rs.20000/- to be paid in advance.. During discussions he mentioned that he will give contact numbers of persons who had undergone treatment with him to myself observe their progress. But when I approached him last sunday, after having talk with me and coming to know that I have some knowledge on the subject, he refused to divulge the numbers of his clients.”

We did some further research. Following is a quote from the website of this therapist; within brackets are our comments:

“One can expect to be better by 90% in about 20 sittings time, sittings can be daily or weekly or even twice in a week.” (then, why hesitate to share the contact details of just two of your beneficiaries?)

“Under FAQ: How much time it takes to get rid of stammering? The improvement starts from the very first sitting; generally it takes around 20 sittings in all, that can be a regular daily sitting or once or twice in a week.” (Can this be true?!!)

Under the tab: Charges/fee, only a phone number is given. Once you contact, you are told about Rs 20,000 for twenty sessions, it seems. In recognition of his outstanding services to the society, he was honoured with a National Award. Many of his articles have been published in the leading newspapers (but what about professional journals?). Another PWS who was taken to him for therapy as a child, mentioned to us, that when his father questioned this doctor about non improvement- he simply blamed the child and made no refund / concession on fee! This is the truth of speech therapy in private sector today in India. Is Indian Speech & Hearing Association (ISHA) doing anything to save society from such ‘service minded’ Therapists?