Kathmandu, January 29

Central Investigation Bureau has arrested 17 people for allegedly working as doctors from five health centres in Kathmandu.

The arrested were found to be working without Nepal Medical Council’s permission. The arrested weren’t registered with the NMC. From among the 17 some of them were working as ‘doctors’ while some were operating hospitals. Majority of the arrested are Chinese nationals while the hospital operators are Nepalis. Some health centres were also found to be operating in the country without registration according to Jeevan Kumar Shrestha, CIB spokesperson.

“The raids were carried out in five hospitals Apollo Hospital, Thamel, CIWEC Hospital, three Lazimpat and Boudha based health centres China Great Wall, China Dental and China People,” informed Shrestha. The raid was carried out in coordination with the NMC and Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights this afternoon.

Anyone be it a foreigner or a national medical practitioner, s/he must be registered with the NMC to practice as a doctor. “We do not recognise anyone as doctors who isn’t registered with the NMC. Foreigners even if s/he is an expert of a foreign country must abide by our laws and legal procedures if they are to practice in Nepal. They must be registered with us to be recognised as doctors,” said Dr Dharma Kanta Baskota, chairman of NMC.

However, the names of ‘doctors’ haven’t been disclosed yet. “The number could rise as investigation is underway. It is a process under way,” said Baskota.

“We will disclose the identities of those arrested in few days as we are investigating the case,” added Shrestha.

Nepal Medical Association, issuing a press release today, said the association has drawn its attention to illegally run health centres. In a press release, NMA has drawn its attention to health centres operating in the country without registration, and the ineligible practitioners’ unnecessary promotion, which is impacting on people’s health.

The association has demanded immediate attention of the concerned agencies to the need to take timely action. “These issues will have an impact on the health institution, medical practitioners, and medical doctors,” reads the statement.