INDIA. MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at around 91 locations in 14 states, including Delhi and Mumbai, in connection with the fake registration of foreign medical graduates (FMG) with medical councils across India without passing the mandatory qualifying examination.
The action was taken based on the letters dated September 12 and October 17 written by the President of the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to the CBI, stating that nearly 73 students (62 + 11) had registered themselves with different medical councils across the country based on fake NBEMS certificates.
The CBI had registered an FIR (No. RC 2162022A0013 Delhi) on December 21 against unknown public servants of state medical councils, the former Medical Council of India, 73 foreign medical graduates, and other unknown public servants on charges of irregularities in the registration of foreign medical graduates.
The accused have been booked under various sections, including Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Sections 120 B, 429, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 13(2) and 13(1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1888, and Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1888 (as amended in 2018).
The CBI stated that these accused not only managed to get themselves registered with medical councils but also managed to secure jobs with hospitals across the country with fake registration. These irregularities occurred between 2011 and 2022.
Doctors with fake registrations
Some of the erring graduates include: Cheers Samuel, Tamil Nadu (claimed to have qualified the MD physician examination in 2007 from the Russian Medical University). He appeared for the qualifying test conducted by the NBEMS in 2021 (2 sessions) but failed. Yet he got registered with the Bihar Medical Council (Registration No. 48535, dated March 29, 2019).
Sudhir Kumar, Bihar (claiming to have passed the MD physician examination in 2009 from the UT Russian Federation). He appeared for the qualifying test conducted by NBEMS in 2018 (1 session), but failed. Yet he got registered with the Bihar Medical Council (Registration No. 49333, dated January 28, 2020).
Vignesh Vellalkannu, Tamil Nadu (claimed to have passed the MD physician examination in 2019 from the St. Petersburg Academy, Mechnikov) He appeared for the qualifying test conducted by NBEMS in 2021 (2) but failed. He got registered with the Bihar Medical Council (Registration No. 48543, dated April 3, 2019).
Mukesh Kalra, Chandigarh, Punjab (claimed to have passed the MD physician examination in 2015, from Kuban, USSR). He appeared for the qualifying test conducted by NBEMS in 2014 (2) but failed. He got registered with the Punjab Medical Council (Registration No. 45964, dated April 28, 2015).
Rahul Pramod Patil, Aurangabad, Maharashtra (Doctor of General Medicine, stated to be qualified from U Stavropol, SMA, Russia, He appeared for the qualifying test conducted by the NBEMS in 2018 (1) but failed. He got registered with the Maharashtra Medical Council (Registration No. 20181155560, dated November 6, 2018).
Dharmendra Kumar Gupta, Uttar Pradesh (passed out the MD physician examination in 2012 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kyrgyzstan). He appeared for the qualifying test conducted by NBEMS in 2011 (2) but failed. He got registered with the Uttar Pradesh Medical Council (Registration No. 62138, dated January 12, 2012).
These students registered themselves by fraudulent means, in violation of the provisions of the Screening Test Regulation Act 2002, and await further action from the NBEMS.
Besides, the employees of 15 medical councils, including those from Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh, J&K, Delhi, Telangana, and the National Medical Council, are on NBEMS and CBI’s radar.
On Thursday the raids were conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Buldana, Pune, Jalgaon- (Maharashtra), Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bhatinda, Khanna-(Punjab), Karnal, Narvana- (Haryana), Sawaimadhopur- (Rajasthan), Hamirpur, Shimla- (Himachal Pradesh), Jammu, Srinagar- (J & K), Dehradun- (Uttarakhand) , Ghaziabad- (Uttar Pradesh), Guwahati, Tejpur- (Assam), Imphal- (Manipur), Sikkim-(Sikkim), Bhopal, Rajpur- (Madhya Pradesh), Patna, Munger, Dharbhanga, Bhagalpur, Champaran, Begusarai, Hajipur, Vaishali, Nalanda- (Bihar), Jaipur, Sikar- (Rajasthan), Vijayawada- (Andhra Pradesh), Warangal- (Telangana), Tirunelveli, Madurai- (Tamil Nadu), Vizag- (Andhra Pradesh) and Bokaro- (Jharkhand).
During the search of the premises, several incriminating documents, including fake Pass Certificates of the FMG Examination, were seized.
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