Unqualified doctor performed more than 50 cardiac procedures in now closed Faridabad centre

Chandigarh: A fake cardiologist allegedly performed more than 50 heart procedures at a now-defunct cardiac care centre in Haryana's Faridabad, exposing serious lapses in medical oversight and triggering a criminal investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Sources claimed that the impostor — referred to as a ‘Munnabhai' doctor, in reference to the Bollywood character known for posing as a doctor fraudulently — was in fact a general medical practitioner. He is accused of faking the identity and registration number of a real cardiac specialist who shares the same name and practises in Faridabad.

A private operator running the cardiac care centre had hired the bogus doctor under a public-private partnership (PPP) model at the civil hospital in Faridabad.

Authorities concened say he began working at the centre in July 2023, and was involved in a growing number of procedures before the scandal came to light when several of his patients failed to recover and began returning for follow-ups — only to find that he had stopped showing up.

Concerned attendants used the registration number he had been operating under, 28482, to contact the actual cardiologist, who held a different registration number, 2456, and had no connection with the centre.

Authorities have identified at least 50 patients, so far, as having undergone procedures by the impostor. Some have submitted complaints through the CM Window, the Haryana chief minister's grievance portal.

The cardiac centre, which had scaled down operations already, was shut down formally in Feb under a health department action. Further scrutiny revealed that govt payments under public health schemes to the centre had been suspended previously due to earlier red flags.

A company official associated with the group HR said: "We came to know about this through during the police investigation into some complaint. Police are yet to share their findings with us. Once we have those, we shall also lodge a formal complaint against the doctor. Rest, he was sacked upon failing to respond to our show-cause notices."

Flatline of trust

While Dr Manish Bansal, Haryana's director general of health services, declined to comment, Faridabad civil surgeon Dr Jayant Ahuja said the matter was under ACB investigation and pointed out that a private agency, not the health department, handled recruitment. The incident has raised serious concerns about medical credential verification and private sector accountability within public health partnerships in the country.