The probe into the complaints showed that the doctors at such suspect clinics are not genuine medical practitioners and their documents are fake and illegal. NMC said it has not allowed them to practice medicine inside the country. A license from NMC is needed to practice medicine in Nepal.[break]
“Those doctors are not registered with the council. We do not give them any license,” Dr Damador Gajurel, chairman of NMC, said adding, “We do not know where they studied medicine.” According to NMC, most of the complaints have come from the Tarai districts. “In the complaints by the public, the police sent us documents to verify, and none of the documents was genuine," Dr Gajurel added. The council said that most of the time the police ask about the authenticity of the doctors by phone.
NMC does not know whether or not the bogus doctors are punished. “We just check the documents and their registration. We cannot punish those who are not genuine,” he said. Patients usually do not ask about the qualifications of doctors and they cannot even imagine checking their medical degrees. “If the ailment does not heal they do not go back to the same doctor.
The council said that it is the responsibility of the police to check illegal medical practices, as these amount to cases of forgery. But the police said they have multiple responsibilities on their hands and cannot monitor all clinics and hospitals to ensure that all the medical practitioners are properly trained.
“If someone lodges a complaint, we immediately take action. Otherwise, we cannot enter every clinic and hospital to verify their degrees,” spokesperson of Nepal Police Binod Singh said. He said that agencies like the Ministry of Health, NMC and Nepal Medical Association (NMA) are the proper bodies for monitoring medical practitioners.
Secretary of Health Dr Pravin Mishra said that he is also aware of the problem but has not taken any step to check the illegal practices. He said the government does not have the required law to punish bogus doctors. “They can be punished for fraud and forgery, so the police should step in," Dr Mishra said.
He said the ministry will form a mechanism to check such practices. “It is a serious issue and we will definitely come up with the necessary mechanism,” he said. He said the ministry will hold discussions with NMC, NMA, the police and consumer rights bodies.
NMA said that such illegal practices are rampant in big cities for lack of coordination between NMC and the ministry. Chairman of NMA Dr. Kiran Shrestha said that illegal practices are seen in the medical field because of impunity.
NMC said that it will write to the Ministry of Home Affairs to form a body to check the illegal activities. “Without the help of the administration we cannot do anything,” Dr Gajurel added.
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