Unregistered FMG Fail doctor held after patient dies from injection for stomach pain in Coimbatore

Coimbatore: In a shocking case of medical malpractice, a foreign-educated doctor who had not registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council and was found using the prescription slip of another registered doctor has been recently apprehended for allegedly treating a 21-year-old patient who died after receiving an injection for stomach pain at his private clinic in the Sultanpet area. 

The unregistered medical practitioner was caught red-handed in an inquiry by a team of health department staff led by the Joint Director of Health Department in Coimbatore NN Rajasekaran on Sunday which revealed that the doctor completed his MBBS from Georgia in 2022 but did not clear the the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) mandated by the Medical Council of India. As a result, he failed to register with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council for practising medicine. 

However, the doctor had been practicing medicine in the clinic which was also running without a valid license and treated several patients over the years which led to the recent death of one such patient in the Sultanpet area.

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As per DT Next news report, the incident took place after the patient, a driver from Ambedkar Nagar in Sultanpet was brought to the medical centre with complaints of stomach pain on Saturday. Following this, the accused unregistered medical practitioner checked the patient accompanied by his aunt and administered him an injection for the stomach pain. 

After administering the injection, the doctor asked him to be under rest at home. When the patient arrived at his home in the afternoon that day, he went to the bathroom and collapsed. He was discovered in an unconscious state by his family members. 

“He was administered an injection and was asked to go home to take rest. Soon after arrival, he went to the bathroom but didn’t come back for long. The family members later found him lying unconscious. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital in Senjerimalai, where doctors declared him dead,” said the police. 

Following his death, his family approached the police and filed a complaint against the doctor. Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case of unnatural death under Section 194 of the BNSS Act. Later, they sent the patient's body for postmortem at the govt ESI Medical College and Hospital in Singanallur on Sunday. 

Taking note of the incident, the police informed the joint director of health services NN Rajasekaran, who visited the medical centre on Sunday with his team comprising members from the state health department and conducted an inquiry leading to the discovery of the doctor's medical background. It was found that he was using the prescription slip of a registered doctor to treat the deceased patient. 

"The medical centre owner has two sons. Both the sons had completed their MBBS in Georgia. His elder son used the prescription slip of a registered doctor for Prabhu's treatment. The registered doctor is the woner's relative. He visits the clinic twice a month. But he had not visited the clinic for the past three months," Rajasekaran told TOI. 

Further he added, "The accused doctor is not qualified to practise as he did not pass the FMGE exam or register with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council. His younger brother, however, passed the exam and is awaiting registration. We will submit a detailed report on Monday."

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