A quack masquerading as a practitioner of modern medicine using a fake registration number was arrested in the Lokhra area of Guwahati recently by the city police.

The quack, identified as 63-year-old Paramesh Chakravarty, was arrested by a team from Fatashil Ambari police station, which initiated an inquiry against the accused after an FIR was lodged by renowned crusader Dr  Abhijit Neog earlier in June this year.

According to police sources, they have registered a case under Section 419/420/468/471 IPC based on Dr  Neog’s complaint.

The accused has been remanded to judicial custody, according to media reports.

Dr  Neog, who is the Principal Assessor of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), a constituent board of the Quality Council of India, and Chief Operating Officer of the city’s Arya Hospital, stated in his complaint that the accused is practising as a general physician at Charulakshmi Medical, Jyotikuchi Tiniali, Lakhra Road, Guwahati, and is providing services as a doctor on the strength of a few certificates from dubious and unrecognised institutes.

Speaking to Drug Today Medical Times, Dr  Neog said, "Our investigation revealed that the accused does not have any legal qualifications to practice modern medicine and is not registered in the Indian Medical Registry, which is required for all medical graduates to practice the current system of allopathy."

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"When we searched the records of the National Medical Commission in the Indian Medical Register, the registration number 4386 displayed by the accused in his prescription belongs to Ms Mythili Kalathar and was issued by the Assam Council of Medical Registration in 1967."

Describing the situation of the proliferation of fake doctors in the state as serious, Dr  Neog told Drug Today Medical Times that if such a person (the accused) can go undetected in the state capital, imagine what the situation would be in the hinterland.

He called upon the state health authorities and people alike to remain vigilant and report any such people to the authorities.

"There is a need to build up a mass movement against such unscrupulous elements across Assam as they are playing with the lives and limbs of people with impunity," Dr  Neog added.