Federal Police starts operation against fake medical certificates

Criado em 18/10/13 18h02 e atualizado em 18/10/13 18h03
Por Ivan Richard Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – Brazil’s Federal Police launched on Friday (October 18) an operation against a scheme whereby forged medical certificates were being revalidated for the illicit practice of the profession in Brazil.

During the operation, named Asclepius after the Greek god of medicine, 41 search and seizure warrants were signed by the Federal Court of the state of Mato Grosso. The warrants are being fulfilled in 14 states: Mato Grosso, Acre, Alagoas, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Roraima, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo.

According to the Federal Police, investigations started after the Federal University of Mato Grosso contacted the Bolivian universities (the Universidad Nacional Ecológica, the Universidad Técnica Privada Cosmos and the Universidad Mayor de San Simon), which confirmed that, among those registered for certificate revalidation, 41 had never been a student or finished their studies in these universities.

After the documents were analyzed, the Federal Police found out that out of the 41 people registered, 29 were represented by lawyers or couriers, who registered the alleged doctors so that they could have their university degrees revalidated in Brazil. According to the Federal Police, these people will have to give clarifications, and may to be charged with misrepresentation and the use of counterfeit documents.

Health minister Alexandre Padilha said he was not aware of the operation, but declared that all measures aiming at preventing fraud are positive. “Measures like this are very welcome,” he said.

Although the operation is not connected with the federal government’s More Doctors program, the minister explained that “after the ministry receives the documents for the More Doctors [program], it passes them on to the Federal Police so they can check not only the documents, but also the the applicants’ history. This inspection performed by the Federal Police and also an operation of this kind may may be key to prevent fraud and the register of professionals that aren’t doctors into the program. We’re acting very rigorously,” the minister added.

Editors: Denise Griesinger / Nira Foster
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira