PESHAWAR: A man impersonating a doctor fooled the administration of the Hayatabad Medical Complex for three months.

The Hayatabad police registered FIR against the imposter, Qudratullah Shah, a resident of Bannu, on Friday but failed to arrest him.

The Young Doctors Association and health officials insisted that the imposter’s stint at the hospital lasted around two years.

HMC medical director Dr Shahzad Akbar told reporters that Qudratullah Shah was allowed to work as observer at his hospital-based clinic by the facility’s dean, Dr Noor Wazir, and that the accused was not a trainee medical officer.

“We admit that there was some laxity on part of Dr Wazir in allowing the imposter to work as observer,” he said.

Dr Akbar said the issue came to light on Oct 17 when a trainee registrar working at the pediatric cardiology department visited the medical unit to inquire after one of his relatives admitted there and had an argument with the fraudster, who claimed to be on duty.

He said the spat was reported to the hospital’s deputy medical superintendent with the trainee registrar also submitting a complaint to the administration, which formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident.

Without naming names, the medical director accused ‘some quarters’ of exploiting the issue to serve own ends.

He said the inquiry committee was tasked with ascertaining if Qudratullah was allowed by the administration to work in the hospital, if he was a TMO, if he was on the hospital’s payroll and was involved in patient care.

“Answers to all these questions as provided by the inquiry committee were in negative,” he said.

Dr Akbar said all TMOs were inducted through the post graduate medical institution, while the ‘attachment’ was allowed through the medical director’s office.

“We have no records of Qudratullah in both categories,” he said.

The medical director said Dr Noor Wazir, who was also the head of the Medical-A Unit, told the probe committee that the accused came to his clinic with a ‘house-job doctor’ few months ago and both of them were allowed to be ‘attached’ as observers but the ‘house-job doctor’ left after completing his tenure but the accused stayed put.

He added that Qudratullah later began showing up at the medical unit in the absence of Dr Wazir and other senior doctors and managed to live in a hostel of trainees for around three months due to a dispute between doctors and government.

“He was repeatedly asked to submit his educational and other documents to the hostel administration but he kept delaying compliance,” he said.

Dr Akbar said the police should arrest and prosecute the imposter without delay and that the hospital would offer them complete support and cooperation for the purpose.

However, the YDA alleged that Qudratullah, who was a matriculate and had passed matriculation examination in 2015, was facilitated by a senior doctor.

It said several doctors had seen the imposter roam around the hospital for two years.

In a letter sent to the hospital director on Oct 18, the YDA alleged that Qudratullah pretended to be working as a senior TMO at the Medical-A Unit on the dean’s orders.

It added that the accused used to harass women doctors in the doctors room and during rounds, while the senior registrar had terminated him from service after receiving several complaints against him.

An unauthenticated application purportedly written by Qudratullah to the head of gastroenterology unit and shared by the PDA shows the imposter seeking two months long mandatory rotation.

A health department official questioned the holding of internal inquiry into the matter saying it would be regarded by most of the people as cover-up to the entire case.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017