A mobile court here yesterday sentenced eight fake doctors to two years in prison each for treating people illegally without any registration from the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC).
The court also fined them Tk 1 lakh each, defaulting on which they will have to serve an additional jail term of three months. The convicted are MH Kabir of Bandartila, NR Nijami of Bandar, Harunur Rashid of Mistripara, MG Bhuiyan of New Mooring, Asim Sen of Kattali, Gopal Majumder of Jamal Khan, RJ Saha of Natun Bazar and Nepal Dasgupta of DT Road.
AHM Anwar Pasha, executive magistrate of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-7, passed the order.
The eight were produced before the media at a private clinic in the city’s Jamal Khan around 5:00pm.
A 50-member team of Rab-7 conducted drives at 14 spots in the city, said Rab-7 Commanding Officer Shahed Karim.
“We had a list of 14 fake doctors in the city. We conducted the drives after collecting information for months,” he added.
Magistrate Anwar Pasha said all the convicted were using different degrees like the MBBS and MD in their nameplates. Introducing themselves as specialist doctors, the eight were practising at different private clinics and pharmacies in the port city.
When the mobile court asked them to produce their registration certificates from the BMDC, they failed to oblige.
Every physician in the country must be registered with the BMDC for practising medicine. But the eight opened a fake organisation, Bangladesh Combined Medical and Dental Council, and prepared fake certificates for themselves, said Civil Surgeon Medical Officer Dr HM Ahsanull Haque.
Talking to The Daily Star, MG Bhuiyan, one of the fake doctors who had introduced himself as a child and medicine specialist with an MD degree in his nameplates, said patients visited him as they recovered from illness under his treatment.
He, however, admitted illegally using the MD degree.
-With The Daily Star input
