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April 9: Sleuths of the criminal investigation department (CID) arrested a fake doctor from Basistha in the city today.
A CID source said the accused, Uttam Kumar Deb, 48, a resident of Navodaya Nagar at Patarkuchi under Basistha police station, was allegedly practising in a private clinic for the past eight years, putting lives of innocent persons in danger.
“Acting on a tip-off, a team of CID officers caught the accused red-handed when he was checking patients at Ashok Medical Hall, a private clinic near Basistha Chariali, around 11.30 this morning,” the source said.
“During interrogation, he admitted that he did not have an MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) degree and had only done a diploma course in alternative medicine from a private institute in Calcutta,” the source added.
A case (No. 28/2012) has been registered against Deb at the CID police station under Sections 419 and 420 IPC. He will be produced in court tomorrow. The source said the CID would seek his custody for further interrogation.
“In order to attract patients, Deb also claimed to have an MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree in sexually transmitted diseases,” the source said, adding that this was not true.
He said they had also received information about other fake doctors, who, like Deb, were practising in the city without having MBBS degrees.
He said there should be strict guidelines to make it mandatory for private pharmacies, clinics and hospitals to verify the doctors’ degrees before appointing them. “Such a step would go a long way in checking such problems,” he added.
In June 2010, the CID had arrested one Bhabajit Lahkar, who was also practising in a private clinic in the city, with a fake MBBS degree.
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