7 deaths after treatment: FIR against 'fake' cardiologist of Madhya Pradesh hospital

Bhopal: Police have registered a case against a "fake" cardiologist of a missionary hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district following the death of seven persons allegedly after being treated by him, officials said on Monday.

A team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will reach Damoh on Monday and camp till Wednesday to conduct an investigation into the matter.

The police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on Sunday midnight against the accused, named Dr Narendra John Camm, on a complaint by Damoh district's Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) MK Jain, the officials said.

In the complaint, Jain alleged that Dr Camm had committed a fraud by performing angiography and angioplasty on patients at the Mission Hospital without being registered with the Madhya Pradesh Medical Council.

The registration is not displayed on the doctor's medical documents, which appears to be suspicious prima facie. No doctor can provide services in Madhya Pradesh without registration with the MP Medical Council, the FIR stated.

A team of doctors also investigated the case following a letter from the district collector and the hospital management said Dr Camm has already left the medical facility, it mentioned.

According to the FIR, the hospital manager provided documents related to the doctor's degree and the investigation team prima facie did not find the registration number of the medical council or a university, which is generally mentioned in the documents.

As per documents of the doctor concerned presented by the Mission Hospital, his medical registration certificate has been issued by the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council.

But the name of Dr Camm does not appear in the registration on the official website of the Andhra Pradesh Medical Council, thus it seems suspicious at first sight, the FIR stated.

The case was registered against the accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 315 (4) (dishonest misappropriation), 338 (forgery), 336 (3) (creating or altering documents or electronic records with fraudulent intent), 340 (2) (forged documents and electronic records) and 3 (5) (joint criminal liability when a criminal act is committed by several persons in furtherance of a common intention).

As per a complaint lodged earlier by a local resident with the NHRC, the person, using the name 'Dr N John Camm', who was said to be working at the hospital, had shown himself to be educated and trained from abroad.

The complainant claimed the real name of the person is Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav. He misused the name of a famous cardiologist from the United Kingdom, Professor John Camm, to mislead the patients and they died due to his wrong treatment, the complaint alleged.

The complaint alleged that between January and February this year, many people died due to the treatment by an ineligible and unauthorised doctor in the cardiology department of the Damoh's Mission Hospital.

NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo in a post on X on Friday said a case of the untimely death of seven persons has come to light in a missionary hospital in Damoh where a fake doctor was operating on patients in the name of the treatment of heart disease.

According to the complaint, the said missionary hospital is covered under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Yojana and hence government money has also been misused. The MHRC has ordered an investigation, he said.

"The investigation team of the National Human Rights Commission constituted on my orders to investigate the case will camp in Damoh from 7th April to 9th April and investigate. If any victim or any other person wants to provide information related to the case, they can meet the investigation team in Damoh," Kanoongo said in a post on Sunday.

The investigation team will examine the institution and persons mentioned in the complaint, including administrative officials, he added.

Damoh Collector Sudhir Kochar on Sunday said a complaint has been received in the matter and it is being investigated.