21-year-old ‘fake doctor’ arrested in Dambulla
April 12, 2015 02:43 pm
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A 21-year-old individual, who reportedly impersonated as a doctor, has been arrested by the police at the Dambulla Base hospital on Sunday (12) morning. The police have also found an identity card believed to be a fake in which it says it was issued by the U.S. Department of Science & Health (Doctors).
The suspect has been identified as K.A. Harshana Maduranga Bandara who is a resident of Medirigiriya.
“The individual had been walking towards the operation theater at the time another senior doctor questioned him about his background details. Following the suspicious behaviour, the doctor in return has notified the police, what triggered the arrest,” a police officer said.
The police is yet to disclose the motive behind his actions. Bandara will be produced before the Dambulla Magistrate today.
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The above report reminded me of an incident that took place in one of my former workplaces decades ago.
I was attached to the Health Education Bureau (HEB) of the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka in the eighties. We had an attractive lady dental surgeon working in the Oral Health Sub Unit who had a regular visitor. Being a public institution, such visitors were common and nobody took much notice of this visitor who claimed to be a doctor doing private practice in Katana (a town close to Negombo).
As time went by, my suspicions were aroused mainly by the fact that this "doctor" in private practice seemed to have so much free time to drop in at the HEB for a chat with his friend. By the time I was also on friendly terms with the visitor,
I casually asked him about his medical student days because by appearance, he seemed to be a man of my own age.
He spoke very good English and was always well dressed. He told me that he graduated in 1968 from the Colombo Medical Faculty and went into private practice after a short stint at the General Hospital. This statement almost confirmed my suspicions because his name was unfamiliar and I had never seen him in medical school. As you know, we knew most of the students who were senior or junior to us personally. When I asked him about our teachers, he was hedging my questions. By the time I was quite convinced that this person was a quack, I pointedly asked him who the Professor of Medicine during his time was (any medical student who had passed through the Colombo Medical Faculty knew Prof. Rajasuriya). He replied that it is so difficult to remember the names of teachers and was always trying to change the subject. I also noticed that he was quite agitated and sweating profusely. Further questioning left no doubt at all that he was an imposter. The entire conversation took place in the presence of my dental colleague.
He broke off the conversation and left in a hurry, never to come back to the HEB. He would have been happy that we didn't inform the Police.
Despite all the security and the myriad of safeguards it still happens very occasionally in the UK. Vigilance is the keyword. History is littered with examples of impersonations and dishonesty since the beginning of time.
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This to me,Lucky, is interesting news both current and from the past. We often take for granted that who or what is before us is the genuine item. The above events teach us a good lesson 'not to have a narrow field of vision,' and to have a high index of suspicion when something doesn't fit. In the fake ID card you have posted, noteworthy are spelling mistakes, helth, sciencetics (what on earth is that!) and grammar mistake- all country. These can be pointers when suspicion grabs us. On the whole a great eye opener, Thanks. Zita
ReplyDeleteFake doctors turn up now and again. I remember and Orthopaedic surgeon who was a super specialist in hip replacement surgery (won't surprise me if he di only Right or Left in view of what I am going to disclose in a moment). He was supposed to be very good anf got away with it for 10 years! The secret is that he was an ODA and also a skilled craftsman who watched the surgeons very carefully and was able to master the technique!
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