Imposter doctor arrested after two-year GPA war in Kerala

The General Practitioners Association (GPA) has finally emerged victorious, after a two-year legal and investigation war, with the arrest of one man on charges of practicing medicine and nursing at several hospitals without qualification.

Jobin Babu, Perambra resident, was nabbed by the Ambalavayal police in Wayanad. He is accused of having presented fake qualifications to get jobs at some hospitals in Kozhikode and Wayanad. The arrest followed the Kerala High Court accepting a writ petition submitted by the GPA that uncovered systemic failures in identifying and prosecuting quacks.

While arrest is a relief to the GPA and the medical fraternity, doctors were stunned at how for years Jobin treated patients without being checked. Jobin had also made false representations that he holds an MBBS degree from Pariyaram Medical College.

It was his estranged wife, a registered medical doctor, who filed a complaint with GPA's anti-quackery cell that he was employing her registration number to issue forged certificates. "We had submitted proof to the police and the district medical officer two years ago. Nevertheless, he was permitted to continue practicing. He was so unscrupulous, he did not even try to escape," said Dr Ashik Basheer, state president of GPA.

Dr Basheer also referred to another such remarkable instance of a dropout of a medical college who, after being caught in Mavelikara, simply shifted to Idukki and continued his illegal practice. Instances like these, he said, made the need for an immediate regulatory mechanism even more pertinent in order to identify and get rid of impersonators.

The GPA alleged the government acted only after it petitioned the HC for a reporting system and stopping medical impersonation. The writ petition also criticized the Kerala State Medical Council (KSMC) for lethargy and inaction. "The KSMC was not inclined to accept complaints at first. It began to respond only after we made them a respondent in the case," said Dr Basheer.

Though the KSMC can register and govern clinical practitioners in Kerala, it has failed to come up with a proper mechanism to identify and deal with quacks. Dr Harikumaran Nair G S, president (modern medicine) of the KSMC, was not answering repeated phone calls by TNIE.

Only those enrolled with the KSMC - the successor of Travancore-Cochin Medical Councils - can practice modern medicine in Kerala under regulations.