Healthcare or systemic neglect? How fake doctors are exploiting patients in Barak Valley

The recent arrest of Pulak Malakar, an alleged fake gynecologist operating in Barak Valley, is far from an isolated incident. It is a reminder of how dangerously fragile healthcare in Silchar and its surrounding areas has become. When unqualified individuals with forged degrees infiltrate critical medical roles, the consequences are not just administrative lapses - they are matters of life and death.

Barak Valley’s healthcare system has long been a victim of systemic neglect. For decades, patients have been forced to undertake expensive journeys to South Indian cities like Chennai and Bangalore for complex medical treatment, simply because adequate facilities and trained specialists are not available locally. This chronic underdevelopment creates a vacuum, one that opportunists like Malakar exploit, posing as qualified doctors while endangering vulnerable patients.

The presence of fake doctors does more than just risk individual health, it undermines public trust in the entire medical system. Each failed surgery or wrong diagnosis reduces trust and discourages patients from getting timely care. Worse, it provides a convenient scapegoat for systemic failures, shifting blame away from chronic underfunding, lack of infrastructure, and poor governance.

The nexus suspected to be shielding Malakar and others like him suggests an alarming level of complicity that extends beyond a few bad actors. When hospitals employ or tolerate untrained practitioners masquerading as doctors, it reveals a blatant disregard for patient safety and medical ethics. This is not just a local issue, it is a systemic crisis demanding urgent accountability.

Until Barak Valley builds robust healthcare infrastructure with qualified professionals, and enforces stringent checks against fraudulent practice, fake doctors will continue to prey on a system that is crying out for reform. This problem pushes forward a dangerous narrative that quality healthcare is inaccessible locally, and that cutting corners is the only option.