Next time you visit a doctor and feel unsure about his credentials, check out his registration number.

Doctors will now have to put down the number on their prescriptions, if it is not already printed. The decree has been passed by the state medical council, rattled by the recent arrest of a 36-year-old man with a fake medical degree.

?The patient must know the registration number and can get back to us for any clarification,? said Ashoke Chaudhury, president of the West Bengal Medical Council. ?We have put in place a system, by which a verification can be done in a few minutes.?

Around 40,000 doctors are registered with the council.

The order on the registration number is accompanied by a string of other measures, initiated by the Directorate of Medical Education and the West Bengal University of Health Sciences, following the detective department swoop on Salamat Ali of Behala.

Ali was arrested last Wednesday for securing a job with a fake Master of Surgery certificate. He had been working at an Entally nursing home for a year, assisting in surgeries.

The nursing home authorities doubted Ali?s credentials after watching his behaviour inside operating theatres. He had claimed to have cleared his MBBS from Calcutta National Medical College.

?The relationship between a patient and his doctor is based on trust,? said S.B. Purakayastha, president of AMRI Hospitals. ?We cannot afford to take chances and have decided to cross-check the credentials of all doctors joining our hospitals,? he added.

Other private hospitals, too, are putting in place similar check-and-balance systems.

Stung by the Ali fraud, still under investigation, the West Bengal Health University has resolved to plug the loopholes as far as possible.

For the first time, the university will print the photographs of candidates on MBBS certificates and issue marksheets with a hologram.

?Besides, we have also decided to scan the original certificates of those who turn up for counselling for postgraduate courses. This will reduce chances of admission on the basis of fake marksheets and certificates,? vice-chancellor Madan Mohan Chaudhury told Metro.

Amid such measures, both the state health department and the Medical Council of India plead helplessness in rooting out the menace of fake doctors. ?It is nearly impossible for us to launch a drive against such frauds unless we receive specific complaints. We have dealt with some cases and many others are yet to be reported. But we can?t go about on our own,? said A.R.N. Setalbad of the Medical Council of India.

For the director of medical education in the state, cross-checking certificates while appointing doctors under Medical Education Service means asking for the originals only.

?The rest of the investigation needs to be done by the Public Service Commission, which coordinates all other appointments,? pointed out Chittaranjan Maity, director of medical education.