Fake doctor's bluff was caught only after a patient got suspicious and informed the residential doctors about this
Wearing a white apron, shirt and jeans with a stethoscope around the neck, this 30-year-old man has been doing rounds in the campus of All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for almost three years posing as a 'doctor' and a 'yoga expert'. Ritaj Tripathi fooled the several patients coming for treatment at the medical institute and made quick money referring them for various tests to nearby diagnostic centres.
His bluff was caught on Friday as he was caught red handed when a patient found his behaviour suspicious and complained to a resident doctor.
According to sources, he was walking in the emergency ward of the hospital, going patient-to-patient and asking them about their problems. Posing as a doctor, he used to get the people treated in various departments of the hospital. Many got impressed when he confidently walked around taking his patients to various departments and made them jump long queues posing as a doctor.
"By just wearing a white apron and a stethoscope, I had an easy access to the various departments. I have got various people treated in departments like orthopaedics, surgery and ENT with the dress code. I am not a doctor," Tripathi wrote in his statement.
According to the sources, Tripathi came to the hospital three years back and since then he has been fooling the patients as well as the administration.
"He promised one of the patients that he will get his endoscopy done. But the patient was already a Employee Health Scheme (EHS) card holder and was aware about all the facilities offered by the institute. He immediately went to the doctors on duty and explained the situation. When asked, he said that he was working with department of neurology," said a senior doctor from the hospital.
He got in trouble when the hospital asked him to show the institute's ID card. "He tried to run away as he did not have any ID card. We took him to the security in-charge where he admitted to his crime," said another senior doctor.
The country's premier medical institute has around 20,000 medical staff in the campus which includes doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff.
Alarmed with the cases, the medical administration is all set to monitor the overall system. "From the last five years, we have come across 2-3 such cases. We will be issuing guidelines to the resident doctors to ensure no such incidents happen again. We have changed our ID cards for the staff now. These cards are tamper-proof, and has an institute logo which cannot be made by any other machine," said Dr Amit Gupta, spokesperson, AIIMS.
A complaint has been filed to the Delhi Police by the security department of the hospital. "We have received a complaint from the institute, and an FIR has been registered," said a Delhi police official.
On January 23, in a similar incident, a man posing as a doctor was caught treating the patients at Central Government's Safdarjung hospital. Dr Avinash Anand, as he claimed himself to be, has been making rounds of the hospital on a regular basis, duping hundreds of patients every day. Slips were recovered from him which showed the large amount of money he had made. He even had fake ID cards with a stamp on it. He used to say he was a doctor in Trauma centre.
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 "Ritaj Tripathi")
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