Doctors in dock over fake sick notes in Delhi

The Delhi Medical Council (DMC) has come down hard five of its own doctors for unethical practices.

In a recent crackdown, it has suspended the five medical practitioners in the city for allegedly issuing fake medical leave certificates for as long as 11 months.

The council also found that in one of the cases, a doctor had issued a six-month-long medical leave certificate to a Delhi teacher who was found  to be holidaying in the US.

She was declared unfit without any medical examination. The officials at the DMC claim that as per the rule book, a doctor can issue a medical certificate for a maximum of 15 days.

It can be extended only in rare cases and that too after conducting proper medical examination.

‘In the past two months, we have got nearly five such complaints. The figure has gone up as previously around 10 complaints used to reach us in a year.

‘We have identified doctors who have issued fake medical certificates for a long period. In one such case, a doctor has issued a fake medical certificate for a period of six months to a Delhi teacher, who was found to be in the US,’ Dr Girish Tyagi, registrar, DMC, told Mail Today.

The DMC’s disciplinary committee has removed these doctors from the State Medical Register for a period of 180 days (six months) for misconduct and directed them to refrain from such unethical practices in future.

Mail Today has a copy of the orders by the DMC against Dr D Navani, Dr SB Soni, Dr Ashok Khatri, Dr Amit R Johari and Dr Satish Lamba. Attempts were made to contact the doctors but they remained unavailable.

According to DMC officials, these doctors used to run private clinics in Delhi and charged big money for issuing false medical certificates.

In the case of a Delhi teacher (documents of which have been accessed by Mail Today), the DMC through its disciplinary body examined a complaint of deputy director education, Delhi, for seeking a verification of the genuineness of a medical certificate issued by Dr Amit R Johari to Ruchi Rawat, a teacher at Sarvodya Kanya Vidyalaya in West Delhi’s Mohan Garden.

‘Dr Johari did not maintain OPD register and without ordering any investigations categorically diagnosed patient Rawat with discprolapse of L4-L5 vertebrae. It is shocking to note that the medical certificate was issued for a period of six months for the patient who was in the US,’ noted the orders.

In another case, the disciplinary committee noted that no satisfactory explanation was given by Dr Navani for issuing medical certificates for a period of 62 days in a case of UTI with fever.

Dr D Navani also did not submit OPD register of the patient, Shamsher Singh, examined by her in her clinic nor details of the medical certificate were issued by her. The disciplinary committee observed that this whole episode reflects the casualness and unprofessionalism of Dr Navani.

Dr Tyagi pointed out that there must be many doctors in the city are doing this unethical practice but actions against them can be taken only when the council receive complaints.

Similarly, Dr Ashok Khatri issued 22 false medical certificates of varied periods in a span of 10 months. ‘During the probe, it was also found that Dr Khatri has suffixed MD (Acu) qualification to his name in the letterhead of Ashoka Clinic and the same is also put on his stamp, in spite of being registered with the DMC as only with MBBS qualification.

He has been debarred for 180 days for conducting medical practice,’ mentioned the orders. Dr S B Soni has been removed from the State Medical Council for 180 days for issuing medical certificates for a period more than 11 months.

‘During the investigation, no satisfactory explanation was given by Dr Soni. He admitted before the disciplinary committee that he had issued medical certificate on payment basis,’ said DMC official.