The CBI has registered a case against eight private doctors and unknown officials of the Medical Council of India besides private persons for criminal conspiracy and cheating in grant of recognition from the regulatory body.
Following registration of the case, the agency conducted searches at more than 12 locations across seven States, including Asansol (West Bengal), Meerut (UP), Chhatrapur (Madhya Pradesh), Aurangabad (Maharashtra) Thiruananthpuram and Kollam (Kerala), Vadodara, Mehsana and Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and also at Chattisgarh.
Five of the accused doctors have been arrested. One of the doctors posted at a government hospital in Asansol attempted suicide when he was arrested by the agency.
The ‘doctor’ was all set to tie a nuptial knot next week and slit his wrist with a surgical blade in the bathroom. He had sought permission from the agency officials before going to the washroom. The agency also collected documents and electronic records from MCI’s office at Dwarka in Delhi.
These doctors possessing a primary medical qualification awarded by Medical Institutions outside India, in conspiracy with unknown officials of MCI, obtained false permanent registration certificates, purportedly shown to have been issued by MCI.
This was allegedly done on the basis of false documents and false entries made in the computer system of Registration Section, MCI.
As per the rules prevailing in India, the doctors who receive primary medical qualification degree by Medical Institutions abroad are required to pass a mandatory screening test in India to get the permanent registration certificates to practice here.
In the present case, the accused doctors had not allegedly cleared the said screening test conducted by the National Board of examination, a CBI spokesperson said.
The agency further alleged that Fake Registration Certificates were thus generated by the MCI in respect of the accused doctors and the same were dispatched to them in a hurried manner. The verification in respect of the degrees obtained by these doctors from medical institutions abroad was shown to have been conducted even the submission of the applications by these doctors to the MCI.
In none of the nine instances, the candidates had passed the mandatory screening test, but their names were entered in Indian Medical Register on the basis of alleged false registration certificates issued by MCI.
Agency sources said some of the accused doctors have confessed to the crime and are providing further leads on the modus operandi and the middlemen involved in the racket. While seven persons had obtained medical degrees from China, one had degree from erstwhile USSR.
The doctors had managed to secure permanent registration number from the MCI without undergoing the mandatory screening test. At least three of the doctors, who had allegedly got a forged registration from MCI, were working in government hospitals in Gujarat, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Some of them were running private clinics and some worked at private hospitals.
CBI conducted raids at the premises of a Meerut medical practitioner who was allegedly a conduit between MCI officials and the potential candidates coming from these countries. According to CBI, the arrested people told the sleuths that they paid anywhere between Rs 5 and 16 lakh for seeking registration from MCI.
CBI alleged these candidates had colluded with MCI officials who gave them permission to practice in return for illegal gratification even as the doctors did not fulfil the mandatory parameters.
The agency will ascertain whether their degrees were genuine or they were quacks. Agency sources said the CBI has identified two middlemen and questioned some officials of the MCI and more arrests are likely.