Sundargarh: Police arrested Padmanavan Mukhi Karwa, a fake doctor posted at a primary health centre (PHC) in Sundargarh district, on Wednesday. He will be produced in court later in the day.
Earlier on Tuesday night, police had picked up the accused for interrogation from a house in Rourkela.
A native of Jharkhand, Padmanavan had produced fake documents for appointment as a medical officer at Nuagaon PHC in August 2016. It was later found that though he had completed MBBS from VSS Medical College, Burla, in 2002, his medical registration was done through Bihar Medical Council, Patna.
The matter came to light when patients and staff started suspecting Padmanavan because he could not spell common medical terms and did not know the right doses of medicines.
According to reports, a group of people from Nuagaon obtained personal documents of the ‘fake’ doctor through Right to Information (RTI) and then approached the Sundargarh Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) and Public Health Officer (PHO) for help.
The documents showed that before his appointment at Nuagaon PHC, the accused was working with Hi Tech Medical College and Hospital, Rourkela, and Railway Hospital in Bondamunda. Here too, he had furnished fake documents. However, he made good his escape from both the hospitals after the needle of suspicion was pointed at him.
The complainants also said some discrepancy was noticed in the emblem of Sambalpur University on the top of his MBBS certificate. They requested the CDMO and PHO to verify the credibility of his certificates. They also submitted a letter to the District Collector and Sambalpur Vigilance SP, seeking action, the reports added.
During his 40-month tenure as a doctor, Padamanavan has received about Rs 20 lakh towards his salary. Interestingly, a complaint was made against him eight months ago, the but the Health Department did not take any action against him.
Following the media glare, Health Minister Naba Das ordered a probe into the incident on Tuesday.
