Delhi fake medical racket shocks Indian capital as patients die of botched surgeries

A shocking case of medical negligence has been uncovered in India's capital Delhi, where botched surgeries had led to deaths.

Delhi Police on Wednesday (Nov 15) arrested four people, including two doctors, a medical personnel and a fake doctor in connection with their alleged involvement in a number of surgeries of an unspecified number of patients at theclinic in south Delhi's Greater Kailash area.

According to Delhi Police, three qualified doctors including Dr Neeraj Agarwal, who reportedly runs the Agarwal Medical Centre in Greater Kailash, Dr Jaspreet Singh, Agarwal's wife Pooja and former laboratory technician Mahender Singh were arrested.

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Botched up medical procedures allegedly conducted

According to media reports, on October 10, a woman from Sangam Vihar area of New Delhi filed a police complaint at the Greater Kailash police station. The woman reportedly accused that on September 19, she took her husband to Agarwal Medical Centre for a gallbladder surgery.

The woman alleged that prior to the surgery, it was informed that surgeon Jaspreet Singh would perform the procedure. But right before the surgery, it was informed that Jaspreet Singh would not be able to turn up for the surgery due to some unspecified urgency and Mahender Singh will perform the surgery.

Mahender Singh, in fact, was not a qualified doctor but a lab technician.

According to the complainant, her husband's surgery was performed by Mahender Singh, Neeraj Agarwal and Pooja Agarwal.

When the patient was brought out of the operation theatre, he reportedly complained of discomfort. As the family rushed him to the Safdarjung hospital, he was declared "brought dead".

Earlier, the attendants of two other patients had accused that Neeraj Agarwal and three others allegedly performed surgeries of vital organs of a number of patients, without following proper medical procedure.

The investigationso far

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Chandan Chowdhary, Neeraj Agarwal allegedly took assistance of non-qualified personnel, including his wife and former laboratory technician Mahender Singh, while performing surgeries, several of which resulted in deaths of the patients due to medical negligence.

Jaspreet Singh allegedly made fake surgery notes.

"On November 1, a medical board consisting of four doctors was called to examine the medical centre and a lot of shortcomings and deficiencies were observed," the DCP said, adding that during investigation, it was revealed that Agarwal used to prepare fake documents pertaining to the treatment and surgery of patients frequently.

The police reportedly confiscated414 prescription slips with only doctors' signatures, along with two registers listing patients who underwent Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) at the clinic.

Additionally, banned medicines, unauthorised injections, expired surgical blades, original prescription slips of various patients, 47 cheque books from different banks, 54 ATM cards, post office passbooks, and six POS terminal credit card machines were seized from Agarwal's residence and clinic.

(With inputs from agencies)