Govt starts probe to identify fake health workers

The state Health department has started a probe to ascertain if there are any fake health workers at the state-run hospitals and health centres across the state.

Senior officials of the Health department suspect that there are some fake health workers working in various health centres and hospitals especially in the districts. It is a matter of investigation to see if there were some fake doctors among those who were appointed by the Health Recruitment Board last year.

This comes at a time when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been carrying out an exhaustive probe into the fake doctors' issue which was unearthed by the investigating agency in the state.

Senior officials of the CID suspect that there may be some fake doctors in the government establishments as well. Some fake doctors attached with some top private hospitals in the city have already been arrested by the CID, while many others were also arrested from various districts by the district police.

Some fake health workers have already been identified by the Health department. Around two months ago, the senior officials of the state Health department first came to know about the incident following which the probe was initiated. As a part of this investigation, a senior Health department official issued a notice on June 12 in which some lab employees were asked to appear before the Health officials with the testimonials.

According to a senior Health official, two such employees have already been terminated as their recruitments were not done according to the norms of the Health department, while many others are under scanner. According to a source, a list is being prepared featuring the names of the health workers who were recruited flouting some rules. It is suspected that the total number of fake health workers across the state is quite high, as the preliminary investigation suggests.

The Health department is not taking the issue lightly as it is a serious matter. These health workers are directly or indirectly involved in the treatment of patients in various government

hospitals. If the health workers are not properly trained and do not go through the module set by the Health department, it may put the patients and the proper functioning of the health centres in jeopardy. A senior official of the Health department said that they have started a probe in this regard to identify the health workers whose appointments were

made without following proper norms.