Deepening trial: Ex-PMDC registrar arrested for issuing fake experience letter
Dr Akbar had given the letter to a gastroenterologist in the capital
ISLAMABAD:
The regulatory body for medical education in Pakistan is in the headlines for the wrong reasons again after a former registrar of the body was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last week for issuing a fake experience letter to a capital-based doctor.
Interestingly, he was arrested on the day the body had restored him to the council.
The FIA on Thursday had arrested Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) former registrar Dr Ahmad Nadeem Akbar for allegedly issuing a fake experience letter to a doctor of an Islamabad-based hospital.
The arrest came after a patient, Mohammad Nadeem Akhtar, had complained that he had been diagnosed and treated by a gastroenterologist — with falsified letter of experience from PMDC — who instead aggravated his condition.
According to the FIR, Akhtar said he had gone to gastroenterologist Dr Nasiruddin Khokhar in May 2010 for treatment. The treatment extended into 2011 but it did not cure him.
Instead, Akhtar claimed, wrong medicines and treatment prescribed by Dr Khokar allegedly caused him to suffer from brain atrophy and impotency.
Later it was discovered that Dr Khokar was neither a gastroenterologist nor a specialist of neurology. Rather, he was falsely presenting himself as a gastroenterologist at the hospital.
Dr Khokar had an experience letter from PMDC, issued by Dr Akbar. The PMDC’s former registrar was arrested on Thursday by the FIA for issuing the fake letter.
Dr Abid Farooqi, the incumbent vice president of PMDC and accused in the case, maintained that the certificate in question had been issued long before he was appointed as a member of the management committee of the body.
“The case was brought to me for a decision only a few days before the new elected council took charge,” Dr Farooqi said, adding, “In fact, I was the one who had highlighted that a wrong certificate had been issued to the doctor and ordered for it to be cancelled.”
He said that the incoming council was advised to hold an inquiry to determine who in the body was responsible for issuing the fake document.
Dr Akbar had been removed from the PMDC in 2012 on charges of granting registrations to 19 private medical colleges in a single day.
However, following recommendations from the health ministry and a parliamentary committee on health, Dr Farooqi said that Dr Akbar had been reinstated as an officer on special duty.
Intriguingly, the day the PMDC issued the notification that Dr Akbar had been restored to the council, the FIA had arrested the former registrar for issuing a fake experience letter.
The Ministry of National Health Services, however, maintained that it did not have anything to do with Dr Akbar’s reinstatement and termed it an internal matter of PMDC, an autonomous body which is empowered to take decisions about removal or reinstatement of its employees.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2016.
The regulatory body for medical education in Pakistan is in the headlines for the wrong reasons again after a former registrar of the body was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last week for issuing a fake experience letter to a capital-based doctor.
Interestingly, he was arrested on the day the body had restored him to the council.
The FIA on Thursday had arrested Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) former registrar Dr Ahmad Nadeem Akbar for allegedly issuing a fake experience letter to a doctor of an Islamabad-based hospital.
The arrest came after a patient, Mohammad Nadeem Akhtar, had complained that he had been diagnosed and treated by a gastroenterologist — with falsified letter of experience from PMDC — who instead aggravated his condition.
According to the FIR, Akhtar said he had gone to gastroenterologist Dr Nasiruddin Khokhar in May 2010 for treatment. The treatment extended into 2011 but it did not cure him.
Instead, Akhtar claimed, wrong medicines and treatment prescribed by Dr Khokar allegedly caused him to suffer from brain atrophy and impotency.
Later it was discovered that Dr Khokar was neither a gastroenterologist nor a specialist of neurology. Rather, he was falsely presenting himself as a gastroenterologist at the hospital.
Dr Khokar had an experience letter from PMDC, issued by Dr Akbar. The PMDC’s former registrar was arrested on Thursday by the FIA for issuing the fake letter.
Dr Abid Farooqi, the incumbent vice president of PMDC and accused in the case, maintained that the certificate in question had been issued long before he was appointed as a member of the management committee of the body.
“The case was brought to me for a decision only a few days before the new elected council took charge,” Dr Farooqi said, adding, “In fact, I was the one who had highlighted that a wrong certificate had been issued to the doctor and ordered for it to be cancelled.”
He said that the incoming council was advised to hold an inquiry to determine who in the body was responsible for issuing the fake document.
Dr Akbar had been removed from the PMDC in 2012 on charges of granting registrations to 19 private medical colleges in a single day.
However, following recommendations from the health ministry and a parliamentary committee on health, Dr Farooqi said that Dr Akbar had been reinstated as an officer on special duty.
Intriguingly, the day the PMDC issued the notification that Dr Akbar had been restored to the council, the FIA had arrested the former registrar for issuing a fake experience letter.
The Ministry of National Health Services, however, maintained that it did not have anything to do with Dr Akbar’s reinstatement and termed it an internal matter of PMDC, an autonomous body which is empowered to take decisions about removal or reinstatement of its employees.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2016.