The arrest of Narendra Yadav, who posed as a cardiologist and performed unauthorized surgeries, has brought renewed attention to the grave and growing problem of quacks in India. Yadav, who also went by the name Narendra John Camm, is now facing serious charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, cheating, and forgery. His alleged actions led to the death of former Chhattisgarh assembly speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla in 2006, along with several other fatalities in more recent years.

Shukla died in a private hospital after undergoing heart surgery performed by Yadav. His son, Pradeep Shukla, filed a police complaint in 2024 after learning from media reports that Yadav was involved in other patient deaths at a hospital in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh. The police have since found that Yadav’s medical degrees and registration documents with national medical councils were fake or missing.

Despite lacking formal qualifications, Yadav had convinced hospitals of his credentials and submitted detailed resumes claiming to have performed tens of thousands of heart procedures.

In one application, he falsely listed his permanent residence as Birmingham, UK, and claimed to have conducted 18,740 coronary angiographies and 14,236 angioplasties. His fraudulent credentials were not questioned by hospital administrators, allowing him to perform high-risk procedures without oversight.

These incidents highlight a pressing issue: the ease with which individuals can masquerade as medical professionals in India.

Yadav’s case is not isolated. During 2024, the Gujarat police arrested 14 individuals for practicing medicine with fake degrees. These counterfeit qualifications were issued by a bogus organization called the ‘Board of Electro Homoeopathic Medicine’, and were reportedly sold for Rs 70,000 each. Even individuals with education levels as low as Class 8 were able to obtain these certificates and begin treating patients. Police recovered hundreds of forged certificates, stamps, and application forms during their investigation.

During the same year in Surat, two more individuals—Lalita Kripa Shankar Singh and Prayag Ramchandra Prasad—were found running a clinic without any medical training. They prescribed allopathic drugs and administered treatments despite lacking legitimate qualifications.

An earlier case from 2018 in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, showed how dangerous such unqualified practices can be. A quack pretending to be a doctor reportedly infected 33 people with HIV by reusing the same syringe while treating them.

Fake doctors not only jeopardize individual lives but also erode public trust in the healthcare system. Addressing this menace requires coordinated action from health authorities, law enforcement, and medical councils to safeguard the integrity of medical practice in the country.