In a shocking case of medical fraud, a ‘fake’ doctor, posing as a British-trained cardiologist, allegedly performed heart surgeries at the Mission Hospital in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, resulting in the deaths of at least seven patients, including Mangal Singh, the 63-year-old father of Dharmendra Singh, a resident of Damoh. Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, who was allegedly impersonating a cardiologist known as Dr N. John Camm, was arrested by MP Police on Monday. 

On 4 February, Dharmendra took his ailing father to the Christian missionary hospital in town. After the ‘fake doctor’ performed an angiography, he insisted on an immediate angioplasty to remove the heart blockage, but the family was reluctant. 

“We were not prepared and didn’t have money, but the doctor told us not to worry and use the Ayushman card,” Dharmedra told First Check in a phone conversation. The family alleged that the doctor performed angioplasty even before they could produce the Ayushman card. 

“He went ahead, and then we don’t know what happened, but my father passed away at 11 AM. Despite that, the doctor kept suggesting tests; we only came to know later that he had died already,” Dharmendra’s sister, who didn’t want to be named, alleged. 

The scandal, which has raised serious questions about healthcare oversight, is under scrutiny. The accused, identified as Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, is alleged to have impersonated Dr N. John Camm, a reputed cardiologist from St. George’s University, London. However, he was not a doctor at all, and seven out of the total fifteen patients he reportedly operated on have died— including 63-year-old Raisa Beg, whose son, Nabi Qureshi, claimed that he was refused access to his mother’s angiography reports and that she passed away on January 15, just 30 minutes after undergoing an angioplasty. 

The matter came to light after Priyank Kanoongo, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, posted on X.com about the alleged fake doctor. 

“A case of untimely death of 7 people has come to light in a missionary hospital where a fake doctor was operating on patients in the name of treatment of heart disease. According to the complaint, the said missionary hospital is covered under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Yojana and hence the government money has also been misused. The National Human Rights Commission has ordered an investigation,” he wrote in the post, shared on Friday. 

दमोह मध्यप्रदेश 📌

मिशनरी के अस्पताल में नक़ली डॉक्टर द्वारा ह्रदय रोग के उपचार के नाम पर रोगियों के ऑपरेशन किए जाने के दौरान 7 लोगों की अकाल मृत्यु का मामला प्रकाश में आया है।
शिकायत के अनुसार उक्त मिशनरी अस्पताल प्रधानमंत्री आयुष्मान योजना से आच्छादित है इसलिए सरकारी राशि का… pic.twitter.com/Fo8eJmghGp

— प्रियंक कानूनगो Priyank Kanoongo (@KanoongoPriyank) April 4, 2025

He later told ANI that they had received a complaint that a “fake doctor has performed surgery on patients in the missionary hospital.” 

“We were also told that the missionary hospital is also involved with the Ayushman Bharat scheme and taking money from the government for it. This is a serious complaint; we have taken cognizance of the matter, and an investigation is currently going on,” he told the news agency. 

A local resident Deepak Tiwari, an advocate and district president of the Child Welfare Committee, had also filed a complaint with the Damoh District Magistrate, which said that while the official death count is 7, the actual count is much higher.

“Some patients, who did not die, came to us and told us about the incident that they had taken their father to the hospital, and the guy was ready to operate, but they were a bit apprehensive, so they took their father to Jabalpur. We then got to know that there is this fake doctor working at the hospital; the real guy is in Britain, and this guy’s name is Narendra Yadav. There is a case against him in Hyderabad, and he has never shown his real documents,” Tiwari told ANI.

Meanwhile, Mangal Singh’s family alleged the involvement of the entire hospital staff. “Hospital staff had us sign blank documents and maintained the body on ventilator support until 4 PM without conducting any checks,” Mangal Singh’s daughter, who requested anonymity, alleged.

“Since he was killed on 4 February till now, nobody has come to us for any relief or compensation; everyone seems to have moved on; the hospital also doesn’t care,” Dharmedra told First Check.

Authorities investigating ‘fake doctor’

After the accusations surfaced, the entire state and administrative machinery has been deployed to investigate the fake doctor, his credentials and the hospital. An investigation team deployed by the district magistrate confiscated all records from the hospital. The probe uncovered that the impersonator had submitted forged documents resembling those of a well-known British doctor. It was also alleged that the accused has been linked to several controversies, including a criminal case filed against him in Hyderabad. The Damoh district collector, Sudhir Kochar, told media that he would provide his comments once the investigation is complete.

Late Sunday night, a case was registered at Kotwali police station against Dr Narendra Yadav, the fake doctor who went by Dr Narendra John Kem. Two others have been named as accused in the FIR.  The complaint was filed by Dr Mukesh Jain, the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO). He has issued letters to the families of the deceased patients, asking them to appear and give their statements. A team from the National Human Rights Commission will record these statements at the Damoh Circuit House.

However, some questions still remain. Tiwari, who had initially filed the complaint, said that the FIR only mentions a fake degree charge. “There is no mention of 7 ‘murders’. There is no mention of the hospital management or the director of the hospital, Dr Ajay Lal… Many such people are involved in it. Lakhs of rupees have been taken under Ayushman by defrauding the administration, and there is no mention of such things in the FIR. We want a full investigation in the matter and not just about the fake degrees,” he said.

Qureshi also alleged that he had not received any communication from the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) requesting his family to appear and provide statements. 

Dr Ajay Lal, the hospital trust’s head, is currently out of India and could not be reached. Mission Hospital’s acting manager, Pushpa Khare, told the media that the doctor was appointed through a government-approved agency, IWUS. The alleged ‘fake doctor’ joined on January 1 and left in February all of a sudden. The hospital claimed that they are not sure about his qualifications and deny the number of deaths reported in the media.

Mission Hospital and its operator, Dr Ajay Lal, have previously faced allegations related to human trafficking and religious conversion. For the past 10 years, Mission Hospital has been operating in Damoh with 131 beds and several medical facilities, including ICU, CT scan, dialysis, and more.