The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has exposed a country-wide racket of doctors who got their medical degrees mostly from Russia, Ukraine and China, and are practising in India, on the basis of fake qualifying certificates of an examination conducted by a national board.

So far, 73 foreign medical graduates, possessing fake qualifying certificates of Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE), conducted by National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), have been identified by the CBI. They had either failed or did not appear, but still managed to get registration from medical councils of 13 States, that has entitled them to practise medicine in the country, said the CBI.

FIR filed

After registering the FIR against the doctors and unknown officials of State medical councils on December 21, the CBI on Thursday carried searches at around 91 locations, and managed to recover incriminating documents of fake pass certificates of the FMG examination. The places covered in searches include, Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bhatinda, Khanna, Karnal, Sawaimadhopur, Narvana, Hamirpur, Shimla, Jammu, Srinagar, Dehradun, Ghaziabad, Guwahati, Tejpur, Imphal, Sikkim, Rajpur, Patna, Munger, Mumbai, Jaipur, Sikar, Vijayawada, Warangal, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Bhopal, Nagpur, Buldana, Pune, Jalgaon, Dharbhanga, Bhagalpur, Champaran, Begusarai, Bokaro, Vizag, Hajipur, Vaishali and Nalanda, said the CBI.

“It has been alleged that as many as 73 Foreign Medical Graduates, who failed to qualify the mandatory qualifying examination managed to get themselves registered with medical councils in several States,” the CBI said. The agency believes that registration on such bogus certificates enabled the candidates to practice/secure jobs in hospitals across the country.

The State medical councils under the CBI scanner include those from Bihar, UP, Punjab, Maharastra, Rajasthan, Assam, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, J&K and Chhattisgarh. The FIR also lists names of tainted doctors, including two from Tamil Nadu, said the CBI.

More quacks suspected

The sleuths suspect more candidates might have gotten certificates through illegal means since the Union Health Ministry’s search is based on limited access to NBEMS data of registered doctors in the country.

The CBI lodged an FIR on the basis of a complaint from Sunil Kumar Gupta, an under secretary in Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The ministry decided to approach the CBI after receiving two letters from Dr Abhijat Sheth, President of National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), alleging that 73 foreign medical graduates had not qualified the mandatory FMG examination but they have obtained registration with various State medical councils/erstwhile Medical Council of Indian (MCI).

The NBEMS conducts screening test/ FMGE of candidates possessing primary medical qualification from any medical institution outside India as per Screening Test Regulation Act, 2002. “Such fraudulent and fake registration by non-qualified persons will be detrimental to the health and well-being of citizens. It has inter-State ramifications in health sector,” the ministry said in its complaint to the CBI.

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