Fake Doctor Reg Aftermath: Rajasthan Health dept faces herculean task of now verifying 70,000 doctors

Jaipur: In the wake of the scam involving the alleged fake registration of doctors, the Rajasthan Health Department is currently engaged in the process of verifying the documents provided by more than 70,000 to the Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) over the years.

This initiative has been taken to identify fake documents submitted to RMC by doctors after a Registrar of the Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) along with two other personnel were recently suspended in connection a few days ago. 

Medical Dialogues had reported that the decision to suspend the RMC Registrar and officials was taken based on an interim report by a five-member committee set up by the State Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar. Based on the interim report, the Registrar of the Council, Dr Rajesh Sharma, assistant administrative officer Akhilesh Mathur, and Junior Assistant Farhan were suspended with immediate effect.

Also read- Fake Registration of Doctors: Doctors' Associations demand Elections for Rajasthan Medical Council Members

In response, a five-member committee headed by the Commissioner of Medical Education Iqbal Khan has been assigned to verify the documents of the doctors. However, the task is hectic and burdensome due to the department's transition from offline to online medical registrations in 2022, leading to a backlog of documents of over 70,000 doctors which are stored in rooms at RMC.

For a smooth process of verification, the health department has decided to implement a two-strategic approach to address the issue. One of the approaches is to assign a five-member committee to verify the online registrations submitted after 2022 while the other is to ask the new registrar to asses the offline documents submitted before the digital transition.

The health department also plans to collaborate with medical councils across different states. Its goal is to identify and revoke the registrations of fraudulent doctors and preventing them from practicing medicine.

Speaking to TOI, Principal Secretary (health) Gayatri Rathore said "We have divided the task of verification of the documents in two parts. While the five-member committee is verifying documents submitted by candidates after 2022, those submitted before 2022 are being looked at by RMC's new registrar, who replaced the one placed under suspension in the case."

"Identifying fake documents submitted to RMC by candidates remains a daunting task, and officials are seeking help from the public, doctors' associations and informers to collect information on practitioners having fraudulent credentials. We will identify the suspected cases first and then check their documents," said Iqbal Khan.

Also read- Rajasthan Medical Council Registrar suspended over Fake Registrations of Doctors