The same doctor, the same time, but working in two countries simultaneously.

The Nepal Medical Council has formed a committee to investigate the credentials and employment status of foreign doctors after finding that a doctor who had obtained permission to serve in Nepal was also working in his home country.

The council, the national regulatory body for medical doctors and dentists, also said documents and certificates submitted by some foreign doctors for permission to serve in Nepal were found suspicious and in some cases, counterfeit.

“We have formed a committee to examine documents submitted by all foreign doctors seeking to serve in Nepal,” said Dr Dipendra Pandey, acting registrar at the council. “We suspect that private medical colleges bring in foreign doctors only to present them during our monitoring visits.”

The council said between 300 and 500 foreign doctors, mostly from India, are currently working in Nepal. Most have obtained permission to teach at private medical colleges.

The council said the number of foreign doctors registering in Nepal has increased recently as the Medical Education Commission prepares to conduct the integrated entrance examination for undergraduate medical education.

During student admissions, the commission sends monitoring teams to medical colleges and determines the number of undergraduate seats based on the college’s physical infrastructure, the number of faculty doctors, patient load and other criteria. Council officials say private medical colleges have been trying to increase their seat numbers by manipulating the monitoring process.

To do so, they bring in foreign doctors as faculty members and present them to the council’s inspection teams, according to officials.

“Some foreign doctors are there only when the colleges are being inspected, but they return to their home countries and work there at other times,” a council official, who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. “We have also received complaints from students that colleges claim certain doctors as faculty members, but they do not actually teach. Students have been deceived by the colleges.”

In the past, council representatives were included in monitoring teams when medical colleges were inspected or when the number of seats was determined. However, the Medical Education Commission no longer includes the council’s representative on its monitoring teams.

“We suspect that medical colleges are tipped off in advance about monitoring visits so that they can present foreign doctors as faculty members and also arrange more patients to be at the hospital to give the impression of a large patient flow,” said the official.

In a statement on Tuesday, the council said ‘serious doubts’ had arisen over the authenticity of documents submitted by medical and dental colleges, institutions and hospitals operating in Nepal for the registration of foreign doctors.

It said some Good Standing Certificates (which certify that a doctor is registered with and in good standing with the medical regulator in their home country), had not been issued by the relevant authorities, while some were found to be forged.

The council has suspended the registration process for some foreign doctors whose documents were found to be forged and for those whose documents are under investigation, with immediate effect.

It has also sought written clarifications from medical colleges, institutions, and health facilities that recommended the doctors for registration without verifying the authenticity of their documents, and summoned representatives of those institutions for inquiry.

Council officials said medical colleges are bringing in many foreign doctors as faculty members to help secure increases in their MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) intakes.

“We are not saying that all foreign doctors’ credentials are fake or suspicious,” said Dr Chhabi Panthi, head of the committee formed to investigate the registration status, employment status, and professional activities of foreign doctors. “We will investigate whether colleges have misused their credentials for their benefit.”