Quack Who Signed Pathology Lab Reports As MD Arrested

Navi Mumbai, 11 May 2019: The Khandeshwar police have arrested a quack who posed as MD, pathology, and signed lab reports. The owner of Siddhakala Computerised Pathology lab, who was a lab technician, was also arrested. Though the case was registered in March, the accused, identified as Rajendra Nikam and Sarika Gandhi, were arrested last week.

The Maharashtra Association of Practising Pathologists and Microbiologists (MAPPM) had received information about the illegality of the pathology lab in New Panvel. In January, the association sent a patient to the lab for a few tests.

“We had sent the patient so that we could get hold of the report. When we got the report, we found that Mr. Nikam, who mentioned himself as ‘Dr.’, had digitally signed it. We checked the records and found that Mr. Nikam was not an MD. The registration number he used belonged to a doctor from Kurla,” Dr. Prasad Kulkarni, executive member, MAPPM, said. 

MAPPM then approached the police and lodge a complaint following which the lab was shut in March. “A laboratory technician cannot run a pathology laboratory independently without engaging a pathologist registered with the medical council. Hence, Ms. Gandhi on whose name the lab was registered, was also arrested,” Mr. Kulkarni said.

Senior police inspector Yogesh More from Khandeshwar police station said Mr. Nikam was using the registration number of Dr. Neeraj Dubey from Kurla. “Mr. Dubey was unaware of this. Mr. Nikam had done a paramedical course and called himself an MD. Both the accused are in custody till May 13,” he said.

The accused were arrested under various sections of the Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, the Indian Medical Council Act, and the Indian Penal Code.The Hindu