Doc in the dock for issuing fake sick notes to ‘patients’

A 26-year-old doctor, who issued sick notes to fake patients in exchange of money, has lost his appeal. He was earlier handed down a suspended one-year sentence. The defendant, who was serving at the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) as an orthopaedic surgeon, had been accused of ‘selling’ sick leaves to healthy people who want to dodge work.

He was captured after police tapped his phone following a tip-off. Another doctor was serving with him at the SMC was tried in connection with the same case, but the court acquitted him due to lack of evidence.

The accused doctor is said to have agreed to sell a two-day sick note to an undercover agent for BD30 in December 2014, according to court documents.

He was arrested when the exchange took place near Al Ahli Club, in Zinj, and he initially told prosecutors he did it because he was facing a financial ordeal.

“I usually issue false sick notes to my friends, who wanted to skip working days, for BD20 or BD10. One day I received a call from a stranger (the officer in plainclothes), who requested me to issue a fake note to him. I told him to pay BD15 for each day- if he wanted to skip two working days he would need to pay BD30,” the defendant said in his statement earlier.

“Before I handed over the certificate to him, I went to my colleague (the second doctor) and told him that my friend needed a sick note but he couldn’t come to hospital. So he signed and stamped it in good faith,” he added.

Revealing the reasons behind his offence, he explained: “I was facing financial problems, though I was getting BD1500 as salary. Therefore, I resorted to accepting bribes in return of issuing forged sick notes to healthy patients in a bid to overcome it.”