Quacks worked in top Delhi hospitals, Govt records show

Dharamshila Cancer Hospital, Max Balaji and Shanti Mukund are three of 10 hospitals where 15 unlicensed doctors practiced medicine till July 2008, show Delhi Medical Council (DMC) records.

Dharamshila Cancer Hospital, Max Balaji and Shanti Mukund are three of 10 hospitals where 15 unlicensed doctors practiced medicine till July 2008, show Delhi Medical Council (DMC) records.

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Their employment has since then been terminated.

In July 2008, the DMC —responsible for registering medical practitioners — received a request from Shanti Mukund to verify the credentials of eight doctors. The council found seven had MBBS degrees from Russia and were not registered with either the DMC or the Medical Council of India (MCI). Doctors with MBBS degrees from Russia can practice only after they have passed the MCI’s entrance test and a year of internship.

“Unregistered practitioners have always been a problem but what is shocking is they are now blatantly applying for work in private hospitals, even faking registrations,” said Dr Girish Tyagi, secretary, DMC.

The Shanti Mukund case prompted the DMC to request Dr S. Bhattacharjee, Delhi’s director of health services, to notify all hospitals to verify their employees’ registrations. The result: 15 doctors had false certificates. FIRs were lodged against them and some were arrested, but all are out on bail now.

There are an estimated 2 lakh quacks in India, with 30,000 working in Delhi.

If found guilty, quacks can be imprisoned of three years and fined up to Rs 1 lakh.