Quack doctor checked 2,300 patients in Tokyo hospital

Quack doctor checked 2,300 patients in Tokyo hospital

JAPAN - A man allegedly masquerading as a doctor conducted health checks on 2,300 people in fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 at a hospital in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, sources said Saturday.

Since the man is unlikely to have a doctor's license, the Takashimadaira Chuo Sogo Byoin hospital intends to file a complaint against him with the Metropolitan Police Department.

Another doctor is reviewing his diagnoses and the hospital has already notified 111 patients of the results.

Though hospital officials said no serious flaws have been found in his medical examinations, it will ask all the affected patients to come in for another checkup.

According to the hospital, the man was hired in May 2010 as a part-time doctor to exclusively conduct health checks. He was recommended by a placement company specialising in doctors.

The man was in his 40s and also worked as a lecturer at a Saitama prep school for students who wanted to become medical practitioners.

In June, the school notified the hospital that the man might not have a doctor's license.

When the man was hired by the hospital, he submitted a copy of his doctor's license and a health insurance certificate under the name of an ophthalmologist working mainly in Tokyo.

But after the hospital asked the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry about the man, it learned he had appropriated the eye doctor's identity, and he was not registered as a medical doctor himself.

The hospital is currently unable to reach the man. The ophthalmologist whose identity he used said the two were not acquainted.

The hospital said the health check results conducted by the man were found to contain only minor mistakes, such as failure to note when patients were overweight and not writing treatment records for those with high blood pressure.

But the hospital said the man did not overlook anything that could be life-threatening to patients.

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