PESHAWAR, Jan 12: Doctors and health workers at state-owned hospitals give fake medical certificates to government employees to help them secure leave from their departments, officials told Dawn.

"Getting medical leave is no big deal. One can get one-day leave by paying a mere ten-rupee note," said a source at one of the city hospitals. "At rural health centres, the situation is no different where Rs5 is charged for the same service," he added.

A doctor said that some government employees were in the habit of getting fake medical certificates prepared from hospitals on payment of a small sum to health workers.

A junior clerk in the education department said they had been receiving medical leave certificates from teachers and other subordinate staff given to them by doctors. Often these certificates were submitted by employees who did not give an appearance of being sick.

"The department cannot raise any objection because these certificates bear doctors' stamp and are duly attested," he said. He cited an instance of a senior clerk who used to avail himself of 10 days' medical leave every month. The clerk, he added, gave Rs100 to the doctor in his village's rural health centre at the rate of Rs10 per day and thereby secured 10 days' leave.

An employee of the federal government said he paid Rs10 per day for availing himself medical leave at a local dispensary. "Those who pay money to the peon of doctors get medical certificate without any problem," said a university teacher.

At teaching hospitals, the scale of the practice is pretty large. Employees rest themselves for long periods by obtaining fake medical certificates from hospital staff. A technician said that one dispenser was known to give government employees undue rest of as long a period as two to three months.

As a rule, a medical officer can give medical rest for one day to employees but they often exceed this limit. Interestingly, the medical certificates of employees are not verified by their departments.

The government employees, both provincial and federal, get fake discharge slips from health workers by greasing their palms, said the sources. "Discharge slip is given to employees who need long medical rest. They are shown admitted to state hospital for a few days and then 'discharged' with an advice of a month or two's rest," said a staff nurse.

According to rules, medical rest given to patients at teaching hospitals should be counter-signed by the resident medical officers (RMOs) for verification. This rule is often flouted, said the sources.