The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has said it has collected evidence against around a dozen more doctors who had produced fake school leaving and higher secondary level certificates to acquire their MBBS degrees.

About a week ago, the CIB had rounded up a dozen doctors on charge of possessing fake certificates.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Hemanta Malla Thakuri said some of the persons under investigation have been found to be living abroad. “Investigation is on,” said DIG Malla Thakuri.

Dr Krishna Adhikari, spokesperson for the Nepal Medical Council, said many of the doctors in question are out of contact. “Investigation into them has already been completed,” he said. “It seems they have changed their mobile numbers and locations. We are working with police to locate them.”

According to Dr Adhikari, most of the doctors under investigation were working out of the Kathmandu Valley, mostly in the rural parts of the country.

When the CIB rounded up a dozen practicing doctors last week, the NMC had said that around 200 doctors were being investigated.

The NMC said it is still collecting information about all the examinees who had failed or got through the NMC licensing examination in more than five attempts.

After the arrests last week under the CIB’s “Operation Quack”, it was revealed that one of the persons had appeared in the licensing exam 29 times but only to fail. There were other doctors who had passed the examination in 11 attempts.

The NMC has also started a “Search Doctor” section on its website, where people can search for the registered doctors, according to Dr Adhikari.

Many doctors, however, have complained through the NMC’s Facebook page that the NMC-initiated section on its website is not functioning properly.