In a bizarre incident that occurred in the Chatra district in Jharkhand, a government doctor prescribed pregnancy tests to two men who came in complaining of stomach pain. Gopal Ganjhu, 22, and Kameshwar Ganjhu, 26, visited Dr Manoj Kumar at a state-run pathology lab and were prescribed a pregnancy test along with an HIV and haemoglobin test. And while the bemused men first dismissed the doctor’s suggestion and went back to their village, they have now registered a complaint about the potential quack doctor to Arun Kumar Paswan, the district’s Civil Surgeon. As of now, an inquiry has been ordered into the matter.In the meantime, Dr Kumar has denied the allegations and, instead, accused the two men of trying to frame him, claiming he had actually prescribed the tests to their wives who accompanied them. "This is nothing but to malign my image as both the patients had come with their wives, who, instead of entering their own names, registered names of their husbands on hospital prescription,” Dr Kumar told The New Indian Express. “Treatment of the women was done and tests were prescribed accordingly, which is also mentioned in the hospital register.”
Advertisement
Even as the Twitterverse exploded with laughter at this comedy of errors, fake doctors are actually a pretty serious problem in India. In July this year, a government doctor in Jharkhand was accused of prescribing condoms to cure a woman’s stomach ache.Meanwhile, a World Health Organisation report published in 2016 found that 57 percent of doctors in India have fake medical certificates. More recently, 57 doctors in Maharashtra were busted for treating patients without having the medical qualifications, some doing so for even four to five years. They don’t call it doctored information for nothing.Follow Shamani Joshi on Instagram.
