Mumbai: A 30-year-old woman has been booked for allegedly posing as a medical professional and running a clinic at her Kandivali (East) residence without a valid medical degree for the past 8 years.
According to the police, the woman has been prescribing medicines to many patients at her clinic since 2016 with a forged certificate in Doctor of Philosophy in Alternative Medicine. She allegedly acquired the degree from the ‘Indian Board of Alternative Medicines’, which is not recognised by the Maharashtra Council of Indian Medicine.
Claiming to be a doctor, the woman also posted a certificate on social media to cheat patients by offering consultations and prescribing medicines. However, the fraud came to light when the BMC received a written complaint about her from a citizen on October 9.
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In the complaint, the citizen alleged that the woman, a fake doctor was operating a clinic without a valid medical degree at her clinic in Kandivali (East). To back his allegations, the complainant submitted copies of the woman’s degree documents, HT reports.
Based on the complaint, the BMC initiated an investigation into the woman's background qualifications and found that she had obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in alternative medicine from the Indian Board of Alternative Medicines.
Following this, BMC contacted the Maharashtra Council of Indian Medicines for verification of the degree and the council responded that it did not confer such a degree to the woman indicating that she had fraudulently acquired the degree. Therefore, the council did not allow her to practise as a doctor or provide medical consultations.
As a result, Dr Yogita Garasiya, assistant medical officer of BMC approached the police and filed an FIR on Wednesday against the doctor under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act.
The fake doctor has been booked now and an investigation in this regard is underway.
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