The Maharashtra Medical Council in its drive to validate authenticity of medicos, has suspended 20 doctors for submitting forged additional qualitfication registration documents.

Taking a serious view of the bogus documents being submitted by the medical practitioners, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has started a drive to validate the authenticity of the documents provided by the doctors and has suspended 20 doctors for allegedly submitting fake documents for obtaining additional qualification registration. Nearly 100 such doctors are still on its radar. MMC president Dr Shivkumar Utture, while talking to media persons on April 9, said, "We have suspended 20 doctors on charges for submitting forged documents and we are checking each and every paper submitted by them."

"While scrutinising the documents, we found out that 20 doctors had submitted forged papers to obtain additional qualification certificate. These doctors are from Mumbai and other districts of Maharashtra," he informed. "In case we find anything suspicious, we will take strict action. Once suspended, the doctors cannot practice. All MBBS graduates and post-graduates have to obtain a licence from the MMC to practise in the state. The doctors are governed by sections 16 and 23 of Maharashtra Medical Council Act, 1965," Dr Utture said.

In another case, MMC has revoked the licences of four pathologists due to different reasons, one of them being signing the report without checking the test results, he said and added that it is actually the duty and responsibility of a MD or DCP, DPB doctor to sign on the pathology reports. MMC, a statutory body that registers allopathic doctors and looks into cases of medical negligence, has also launched a mobile application for patients to access details and qualifications of doctors treating them, in an attempt to raise awareness about bogus doctors pretending to be qualified doctors. The app contains data of nearly 1.4 lakh doctors registered with the MMC.