A cheating doctor told a string of extraordinary l
A cheating doctor told a string of extraordinary lies to get kudos and jobs across Britain, the GMC heard today.
(MON)
Psychiatrist Ashoka Prasad, 48, claimed to have won the highest civilian award in India and a United Nations special medal, and written more than 30 papers hailed as classics.
He forged signatures and passed himself off as a leading international psychiatrist and the chief adviser on health to the UN secretary general as he applied for posts.
The bizarre catalogue of fraud led to him being presented for election to the fellowship of the prestigious Royal College of Physicians in London.
The doctor also landed jobs in Croydon and Nottinghamshire and applied for fellowship to the RCP in Edinburgh – but was caught out by an eagle-eyed secretary.
He then even lied to the GMC to try and wriggle out of attending a preliminary hearing into the case.
Jane Sullivan, for the GMC, said today: ‘This case represents a whole catalogue of blatantly dishonest behaviour by Dr Prasad.
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The committee heard how Dr Prasad submitted a false CV to Milton Keynes Community NHS Trust in June 1997 as he applied for a job.
In October 1996 he had sent two proposal forms to the RCP in London purporting to be from two leading professors nominating him for fellowship.
The application was considered and in May 1997 Dr Prasad accepted the nomination for election.
But it later emerged that the signatures were false and the application was rejected.
He did the same thing to the RCP in Edinburgh just months later in August 1997 but was again caught out.
In July 1996 Dr Prasad sent references to the ‘Royal Society’ in which he boasted of having written medical papers ranked as ‘classics.
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In one a fellow doctor was said to have written about the psychiatrist: ‘He is unquestionably one of the premier biomedical researchers of the day.
‘I can think of no better person who could be worthy or deserving of this honour.
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Miss Sullivan said: ‘Both those references were forged by Dr Prasad.
‘When one of the referees later saw his signature on the certificate he could categorically say that it was not his.
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The committee heard Dr Prasad had also supplied a CV with the forged references which claimed that he was a member of the Indian National Science Academy and had won the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ – India’s highest civilian honour – in 1991.
In May 1998 the psychiatrist applied for a locum post at Croydon Mental Health Services, and sent a letter which he had previously supplied when applying for a job in Norfolk.
It purported to be from the secretary of the American Board of Preventive Medicine.
The author wrote of Dr Prasad’s work with the UN, and said: ‘He distinguished himself with his knowledge.
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But again the committee was told the letter was a fake.
In January last year Dr Prasad was due to be hauled before the GMC’s preliminary proceedings committee over the case, but it was adjourned after he claimed to be in India arranging his step-mother’s funeral.
But it later emerged that in reality he was working at Millbrook Mental Health Unit in Nottinghamshire.
Dr Prasad, of Milton Towers, Linking Road, Mumbai, India, denies serious professional misconduct.
He is not attending the hearing.
ends
