LAHORE: The police have registered a case against a man accused of posing as a doctor at Lahore’s General Hospital and approaching patients and their attendants.
The hospital administration had the case registered at Kot Lakhpat police station. The accused has been identified as Hasan Ejaz, a resident of Shalimar Town.
According to the FIR, the accused presented himself as a doctor inside the hospital. He approached patients and their relatives and allegedly misled them.
The deception unravelled when the hospital’s duty Deputy Medical Superintendent (DMS) Dr. Muhammad Amjad Shahzad questioned him. According to the case, the suspect became nervous and could not answer satisfactorily. The hospital administration then reported the matter to the police and had the case registered.
Police say they have started an investigation.
Lahore General Hospital is one of the city’s busiest public teaching hospitals. It serves patients from Lahore and surrounding districts every day. Its wards, emergency department and outpatient clinics are constantly crowded with patients and relatives, many of whom have travelled long distances and are unfamiliar with how the hospital works.
That crowding is what makes impostors hard to spot. A man in a white coat, or simply someone speaking with confidence about treatment, can easily pass for a doctor in a packed corridor. Worried families looking for quick answers may be especially easy to mislead.
The source report does not say what the accused told the people he approached. The risks of such impersonation are serious, however. They range from false advice about treatment or medicines to asking for money for supposed tests, admissions or quicker attention.
The police have not disclosed which sections were included in this FIR.
Impersonating a medical professional also bears on wider regulatory law. Only practitioners registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) may lawfully practise medicine in the country.
Punjab has fought quackery for years. The Punjab Healthcare Commission has repeatedly acted against unqualified practitioners running private clinics. Impostors inside government hospitals are a different threat, because they rely on the trust patients place in public institutions.
Hospital administrations in Lahore have periodically tightened identity checks, including requirements for staff to display official identification cards. This case suggests that patient and attendant awareness remains an important safeguard alongside those measures.
Patients and attendants should deal only with staff who carry visible hospital identification. They should make payments only at official counters against receipts, and should raise any doubt with the ward in-charge, the duty DMS or hospital security. PMDC’s online registration search can also be used to check whether a person claiming to be a doctor is registered.
Police have not said whether the accused has been arrested, how long he had been operating at the hospital, whether he took money from anyone, or whether others were involved.
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