On Tuesday, the state government ordered an inquiry against a person who was allegedly working as a fake doctor in a government hospital in Sundargarh district of Bhubaneswar for more than three years.

Health minister Naba Kishore Das said the inquiry will investigate whether the degree was fake and if so, then how did the person get a job in a government hospital.

The minister said that if the degree is found to be fake, a complaint will be filed with the police against the person. Charges will also be fixed on whoever scrutinized his certificates and appropriate action will be taken against that person too. Sources state that Padmanava Mukhi Karua joined Nuagaon Primary Health Centre (PHC) in June 2016 on contractual basis. His certificates showed that he completed his schooling from Rourkela and cleared MBBS from VSS Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (Vimsar), Burla, in 2002.

Of late, few people started having doubt that he could be a fake doctor from the way he would treat patients and they lodged a complaint with the district health authorities. After this, the district administration wrote to Sambalpur University, to which Vimsar is affiliated where Karua reportedly studied, as well as Bihar Medical Council, where he claimed to have got his certificate registered, to verify his documents. Karua is a native of Bihar and havecompleted his schooling in Rourkela as his father was employed with Rourkela Steel Plant.

Saroj Mishra, chief district medical and public health officer (CDMPHO), Sundargarh, said that they have written to Sambalpur University and have also sent his MBBS certificate to the authorities to inform them whether the documents are legitimate or not.

Contractual doctors are selected either by the health department (as a stop gap arrangement for vacancies awaiting regular recruitment through Odisha Public Service Commission) or through walk-in interviews conducted by the district level health authorities. Karua was selected for the contractual job by the district-level committee.He was working in the rural hospital on a monthly salary of Rs 55,000 and also gotrural posting allowance Rs 10,000 per month.

Karua had reportedly also worked as a doctor in other organizations such as Rourkela Steel Plant, Indian Railways and Hi-Tech Medical College, Rourkela. Authorities at Hi-Tech Medical College said that Karua left the hospital subsequently whensuspicions surfaced about his qualification.

Sradhananda Mohapatra, Medical Superintendent, Hi-Tech Medical College, Rourkela said that Karua worked with Hi-Tech for a brief period (during 2015-16) and they had initiated inquiry about the legitimacy of his certificate, doubting him to be a fake doctor from his working style. He then quit in airritable mood.

Source: ET Healthworld