Silchar, Sept 10: In a major action against fraudulent medical practice, Cachar police, in a span of 24 hours since Monday, arrested two individuals, one for impersonating as a qualified doctor and the other for illegally treating patients. The crackdown was initiated following complaints lodged by the Anti-Quackery and Vigilance Officer of the Assam Council of Medical Registration (ACMR), Dr Abhijit Neog.
Cachar SSP Numal Mahatta, while briefing the media about the arrests on Tuesday, informed that in the first case, a person named Pankaj Chaudhary alias Pankaj Chaudhury, a resident of Second Link Road, Silchar, was booked for practising as a medicine specialist, gastroenterologist and diabetologist without a valid registration. Mahatta said, "According to the complaint, the accused issued prescriptions, displayed boards listing medical degrees like MBBS, MD, PGT (Gastro), and claimed international fellowships. He used Registration No. 24147 to represent himself as a registered medical practitioner. However, upon verification, we discovered that the registration number belonged to a legitimate doctor by the same name Dr Pankaj Chaudhary of Katra, Gonda, who completed his MBBS from Kazakhstan and holds advanced medical qualifications in India. The accused in Silchar now faces charges of cheating, forgery, impersonation, and practising medicine without registration, under Sections 34-37 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, Sections 18 and 26 of the Assam Medical Council Act, 1999, and relevant provisions while further investigation is under way."
In the second case, Mahatta said that based on another complaint by Dr Neog, police conducted a raid at Basanti Pharmacy in Kalain where a person named Subhir Choudhury, a resident of Sindura, was found treating patients without recognized medical qualifications. He allegedly posed as an MBBS doctor and had been practising for a long time inside the pharmacy premises. Several incriminating documents and treatment materials were seized from his chamber. Follow-up legal action is being pursued, the SSP added.