NEW DELHI, Apr 5: The Madhya Pradesh district officials are investigating allegations of a fake doctor performing heart surgery on patients and allegedly killing at least seven of them, in a private missionary hospital in Damoh city in the state.
As reports of 7 deaths within a month in the hospital raised alarms in the area, it has been alleged that a person, N John Kem, took up the job in the Christian missionary hospital, impersonating a famous British doctor by the same name, claiming to be a cardiologist. He then subsequently performed heart surgeries on patients. The patients who underwent surgery died later on, officials said.
Upon further investigation, the accused’s real name was revealed to be Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav. Earlier, Deepak Tiwari, an advocate and district president of the Child Welfare Committee, claimed that while the official death count is 7, the actual count is much higher. The advocate had filed a complaint with the Damoh District Magistrate earlier.
“Some patients, who did not die, they came to us and told us about the incident that they had taken their father to the hospital, and the guy was ready to operate, but they were a bit apprehensive, so they took their father to Jabalpur. We then got to know that there is this fake doctor working the hospital; the real guy is in Britain, and this guy’s name is Narendra Yadav. There is a case against him in Hyderabad, and he has never shown his real documents,” Mr Tiwari.
Priyank Kanoongo, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, said the missionary hospital was also receiving money from the government under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. “We got a complaint that a fake doctor has performed surgery on patients in the missionary hospital. We were also told that the missionary hospital is also involved with the Ayushman Bharat scheme and taking money from the government for it. This is a serious complaint; we have taken cognisance of the matter, and an investigation is currently going on,” Mr Kanoongo said.
Following the allegations, the district investigating team seized all documents from the hospital. During the investigation, it was revealed that the impersonator had filed fake documents similar to the famous British doctor. The accused has been alleged to be involved in multiple controversies, including a criminal case registered in Hyderabad.
The Damoh district Collector, Sudhir Kochar, has said he will give a statement after the investigation has concluded, while Abhishek Tiwari, Damoh SP, said, “We are currently investigating the issue of the matter of multiple deaths in the missionary hospital.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
