Is Your Doctor Really Qualified? When a Fake Certificate Becomes a Doctor: Inside India’s FMGE Scam

— Surya Prakash Josyula

You walk into a hospital, wait for your turn and finally enter the doctor’s room. A person in a white coat sits across from you. There is a medical degree on the wall, a ‘Dr.’ before the name and a medical council registration number. You have no reason to doubt any of it. After all, we assume that the system has already checked whether the person treating us is actually qualified.

But what if that certificate is fake? What if the registration itself was obtained using a forged document? And what if the person sitting across from you never actually cleared the required medical examination, but still managed to become a registered doctor?

That is the disturbing question emerging from a medical forgery case now being investigated in Rajasthan.

He Failed the Exam. But He Still Became a Doctor

Nitin Kumar, a 27-year-old MBBS graduate from Kazakhstan, faced an important hurdle before he could practise medicine in India: the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, or FMGE. Foreign medical graduates generally have to clear this screening exam before they can obtain medical registration and practise in India, subject to applicable exemptions.

According to investigators, Kumar had failed the examination several times. Instead of clearing the exam, investigators allege that he paid Rs 10 lakh for a fake FMGE certificate. Using that forged certificate, he allegedly secured an internship and provisional registration.

This is where the story becomes disturbing. A person who had not cleared the required examination allegedly obtained a document showing that he had passed. That document then entered the official system, registration was granted, and the person could appear as a doctor.

The bigger question is not just how the certificate was created. It is how a fake document allegedly travelled through the system and became an official medical registration.

This Is Bigger Than One Fake Certificate

Investigators suspect that the Rajasthan case is part of a larger network. According to the investigation, middlemen allegedly charge Rs 20-30 lakh to arrange forged FMGE certificates and help foreign medical graduates obtain registration.

That suggests something much bigger than an individual making a fake document. There is the person willing to pay, the people allegedly creating the forged certificate, brokers connecting the two sides and, most importantly, a route through which the document can allegedly enter the official registration process.

That is why the most important question is not simply, “Who made the fake certificate?”

It is, “Who allowed the fake certificate to become a real registration?”

So far, 29 people have been arrested in the Rajasthan investigation. They include former Rajasthan Medical Council registrar Dr Rajesh Sharma, brokers and foreign medical graduates. Investigators say they have identified more than 100 foreign graduates who allegedly used fake FMGE certificates to obtain registration in Rajasthan.

These are allegations and will have to be established in court. But the case raises a serious question about how effectively the system verifies the qualifications of people entering the medical profession.

Why Is FMGE So Important?

For Indian citizens who have studied medicine abroad, FMGE is an important screening test before they can enter medical practice in India, subject to applicable exemptions. It is not simply another professional examination. It is one of the key checks designed to establish whether a foreign medical graduate can enter India’s medical system.

The numbers show just how difficult the exam can be. In the FMGE held on June 28, only 13.5 per cent of the 37,448 candidates passed. The pass rate has remained low in recent years. Since June 2023, the highest pass percentage has been 29.62, while the lowest has been 10.20.

Thousands of people therefore take the examination, while a large majority fail. A difficult examination by itself is not a problem. The problem begins when failure creates a profitable illegal shortcut.

If someone can pay millions of rupees and obtain a forged certificate instead of clearing the examination, the exam itself starts losing its meaning.

And the consequences do not stop at the examination centre.

They can reach the patient.

What Happens When a Fake Qualification Reaches a Hospital?

A fake driving licence can create a road safety risk. A fake educational certificate can deceive an employer. But a fake medical qualification is different because the person using it may eventually make decisions about someone else’s health.

The wrong medicine could be prescribed. A diagnosis could be wrong. An unnecessary treatment could be started. A serious illness could be detected too late. In the worst case, a patient’s life could be at risk.

That is why the most important thing a patient takes into a doctor’s room is not money.

It is trust.

When we sit in front of a doctor, we assume that the person has gone through the required education, examinations and registration process. We do not normally stop to verify every certificate before accepting medical advice.

That trust is what makes a medical system work.

A fake certificate does more than falsify a document. It damages that basic trust.

How Strong Is the Verification System?

This is where the Rajasthan case raises an even larger concern.

The CBI had earlier investigated irregularities related to the registration of foreign medical graduates between 2011 and 2022 across 14 states, with the probe beginning in December 2022.

But what happened after that investigation?

Were all the registrations issued during that period checked again? Were old certificates independently verified? Was a strong digital system created to directly authenticate FMGE results? Are state medical councils regularly auditing their registration databases?

These questions matter because catching a few people after a fraud is discovered is not the same as closing the loophole that allowed the fraud to happen.

If the verification system remains weak, another group can eventually try the same trick.

That is why the real issue is not simply the number of arrests in one case. It is whether the system has become strong enough to make such fraud difficult in the first place.

The Real Fear Is Not About Every Doctor

This story does not mean that patients should start doubting every doctor. India has thousands of genuine, qualified doctors who treat patients every day.

But the system has to answer one basic question with complete confidence.

When a medical council gives someone a registration number, that number is more than an administrative detail. It is effectively a promise to the public that the person is qualified to practise medicine.

If a person can cross that gate using a forged certificate, then the problem is not limited to the person who committed the fraud.

The problem is also with the gate.

When we enter a doctor’s room, the question we normally ask is simple:

“Doctor, what is wrong with me?”

But cases like this leave another question hanging in the air.

“Doctor, are you really qualified to treat me?”