CHENNAI: A Vellore-based undergraduate doctor, who has been practising as a surgeon with a fake post-graduate degree , is being investigated by the Tamil Nadu State Medical Council , which suspects there could be many more such practitioners who could put lives at risk.Tamil Nadu Medical Council president Dr K Senthil said Dr P Shankar, the doctor in question, had got the certificate by paying Rs 6 lakh through a broker in Pune. “During inquiry he told us he did not attend classes or training. He wrote an examination and was given the certificate the same day,” said the council president.Dr Shankar produced a “passing certificate” from University of Seychelles — American Institute of Medicine dated February 26, 2017. A give-away, however, was the degree certificate he produced: It was dated two days ahead of the date on the passing certificate. “We’ve asked him stop displaying this as a PG degree. We don’t know how many more are practising speciality medicine with such degrees,” Dr Senthil said.Fake degrees from this university aren’t entirely new. In 2016, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) barred 21 doctors from displaying their postgraduate qualifications obtained from the Seychelles varsity terming their courses as “dubious”. The state medical council, which was in a legal muddle for more than a year, failed to track similar cases within Tamil Nadu. Officials in the state council said it was the first complaint they received. Some doctors, who attended week-long fellowships or training programmes in reputed universities, have displayed the course as their specialty, despite the medical council warning them against the practice.“Two years ago we pulled up some doctors who claimed to cosmetologists and diabetologists without degrees or diplomas in dermatology or endocrinology. We suspect there are many more,” said Dr Senthil. The state council says it will initiate disciplinary action against Dr Shankar for violation of the Tamil Nadu Code of Medical Ethics Regulation by displaying an unrecognised degree. Doctors say the problem of unqualified doctors practising medicine can be a public health threat. “The first law in medicine is to do no harm. To practice surgery without training can put people in danger,” said senior orthopaedic surgeon Dr George Thomas, former editor of Journal of Indian Medical Ethics.

Stay updated with all the Chennai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.