Names Of 7 Foreign Medical Graduates Booked For Fraud Still On Maharashtra Medical Council Portal, Raising Alarm

Mumbai: The names of seven foreign medical graduates, who were suspended from the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) for fraudulently securing registration, continue to appear on the council’s official website, raising serious concerns about regulatory lapses. Their names also feature in the MMC electoral rolls, giving them the right to contest or vote in council elections.

Shockingly, some are still practising in Maharashtra and are even employed as insurance medical practitioners with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation. They had failed to clear the mandatory Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), which is a precursor for registration with the MMC.

Irregularity Comes To Light

The irregularity came to light after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR in 2022. It claimed that 73 foreign medical graduates across 14 state medical councils, including the MMC, obtained registration without passing the FMGE conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences. Advocate Tushar Bhosale, in a letter to the MMC, pointed out that even though these doctors have been suspended, their names remain listed on the council’s website.

“This allows them to still pose as registered practitioners, misleading patients into believing they are genuine doctors,” he said.

The advocate has urged the MMC to clarify whether these doctors submitted fake FMGE results or were registered without result verification. In both scenarios, demand for criminal action against the ineligible doctors as well as negligent MMC officials is mounting. As per the complainant, some of these doctors even renewed their registration despite failing the FMGE, while a few went on to obtain postgraduate diplomas from the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The CBI had booked them under the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to abuse of official position, criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating, criminal misconduct and abetment of offences. They were also charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Apart from 73 foreign medical graduates, the case also names unknown public servants of various state medical councils and private individuals. When contacted by The Free Press Journal, Dr Vinky Rughwani, MMC administrator, said he would verify the matter and take necessary corrective measures.