NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation conducted pan-India raids at 91 locations in a case related to the alleged irregularities in registration of foreign medical graduates with medical councils on the basis of fake certificates and forged documents following which these unqualified doctors were practicing in India.
The CBI sleuths swooped down at the premises of certain Medical Councils as well as Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) which led to recovery of several incriminating documents, including fake Pass Certificates of the FMG Examination.
The raids were conducted following the registration of a case (FIR) by the CBI on December 21 2022. In the FIR the CBI alleged that as many as 73 Foreign Medical Graduates, who failed to qualify the mandatory qualifying examination managed to get themselves registered with Medical Councils in several states. It is further alleged that “registration on such fake certificates enabled the candidates to practice or to secure jobs with hospitals across the country.”
The FIR names unknown public servants of State Medical Councils and the Medical Council of India; 73 FMGs and other unknown public servants and private persons. The CBI slapped charges of abuse of official position, criminal conspiracy , forgery, cheating, criminal misconducts and abetment of offence under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case was registered on the basis of allegations of irregularities in registration of Foreign Medical Graduates with Medical Councils in several states on the basis of fake certificates of qualifying Foreign Medical Graduates Examination conducted by National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).
The complaint was registered on the basis of 2 letters from Sunil Kumar Gupta, under-secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, written in November 2022, to the NBEMS in which he mentioned about the 73 FMGs who obtained registration despite failing to qualify in the required examinations.
The 91 raids were conducted in several cities and towns across the country including Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bhatinda, Khanna, Karnal, Sawaimadhopur, Narvana, Hamirpur, Shimla, Jammu, Srinagar, Dehradun, Ghaziabad, Guwahati, Tejpur, Imphal, Sikkim, Rajpur, Patna, Munger, Mumbai, Jaipur, Sikar, Vijayawada, Warangal, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Bhopal, Nagpur, Buldana, Pune, Jalgaon, Dharbhanga, Bhagalpur, Champaran, Begusarai, Bokaro, Vizag, Hajipur, Vaishali and Nalanda.