Exposed & Still Employed? The Shocking Story Of A Fake Doctor

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The man, who identified himself as Dr. N John Camm, claimed to be an interventionist cardiologist from Klinikum Nuremberg Hospital in Germany and a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, UK. He was, in reality, Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav, a fraudster using the stolen identity of Professor John Camm, a renowned cardiologist from the United Kingdom. 

The fraud first came under the spotlight in July 2023, when fact-checkers at BOOM found the Twitter account @njohncamm impersonating the real Professor Camm. The British doctor later confirmed via email that the account was falsely using his identity. 

Securing job under false pretenses: Despite being exposed, Yadav managed to infiltrate the Indian healthcare system and secure a job as a cardiologist at Mission Hospital in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, through a Bhopal-based staffing agency registered under the state government. 

Claims of false affiliations: He even claimed to be affiliated with Klinikum Nürnberg, one of Germany’s largest hospitals, and boasted about it on social media — but the hospital has now confirmed to BOOM’s Anmol Alphonso that he was never employed there and likely faked his entire profile. 

Allegations of negligence & patient deaths: The case gained urgency when Deepak Tiwari, president of Damoh's District Child Welfare Committee, complained to the district administration, alleging that the fake doctor had performed angiography or angioplasty on at least seven patients who died. 

So far, neither the hospital nor the police have confirmed any deaths.

Family account: BOOM’s Kashif Kakvi reached out to two people whose aged parents died, allegedly because of fake Dr. John Camm's negligence. A 35-year-old Nabil Qurashi from Damoh alleged that on January 14 when his 63-year-old mother Raisa Bee was facing a problem in breathing, he took her to Damoh Government hospital. “Government hospital referred us to Mission Hospital, where Dr. John (accused Narendra Yadav) suggested angiography asking to pay Rs 50,000 in advance,” said Nabil Qurashi.

DECODE

Exclusive: Hackers May Have Stolen Patient Data from India’s Largest Hospital Chain

Data leak at Apollo Hospitals: For security researchers Akshay and Viral, a casual look into a healthcare system’s security quickly turned into a major discovery. The duo uncovered a massive data leak within Apollo Hospitals, one of India’s largest hospital chains. 

Researchers' prompt action & management’s response: The breach first came to their attention on January 9, when they found a zip file on one of Apollo’s subsidiary websites. Realising its sensitivity, they immediately informed Apollo’s management and the file was removed by February 1. But fearing that the data could have been accessed by bad actors, they escalated the issue to Indian - Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), urging further investigation. 

Recurring security concerns: In March, they discovered another zip file—smaller in size yet still containing sensitive data, raising fresh concerns about ongoing security risks. It is unclear if it is Apollo or an attacker who is creating and deleting files on the server. 

Extent of the breach: Leaked files included Aadhaar, PAN, passports, medical records, resumes, and internal login credentials. The findings, shared exclusively with Decode’s Hera Rizwan, expose a severe data protection failure, potentially compromising the personal and medical records of lakhs of patients across Apollo’s network.

LAW, JUSTICE ET AL

Interview: Can AI Imitate Ghibli Style Without Breaking The Law?

Let’s Ghiblify: The popularity of the Ghiblification of personal photos not only broke OpenAI, but it also resulted in record users signing up for ChatGPT— its flagship program. 

Copyright & art: The recent trend of social media users using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to create photos reminiscent of Studio Ghibli has raised copyright concerns and questioned the limitations of “fair use” of an artist’s style. 

Expert’s take: BOOM’s Ritika Jain reached out to advocate Namarata Pahwa who specialises in copyright laws and art to understand a significant concern: What material can AI use? And more significantly, what are the limitations that govern the rights of an artist? Till what point is the artists’ work protected? At what point does it become inspiration, thereby allowing their copyrighted work to become fair play? Find out in this interview.

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍 A video of Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) arriving at the Parliament ahead of the Lok Sabha vote on the Waqf (Amendment) bill went viral with a misleading claim that he was absent from the entire discussion and debate on the law, appearing only to vote. Read 🔗 Anmol Alphonso’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A viral graphic purportedly published by Times Now claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his retirement from politics is fake, 🔗 Archis Chowdhury ↗️ found.

🔍 An old internet hoax has resurfaced, falsely linking the recent earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand to a claim that clicking on 'Seismic Waves CARD', a malware disguised as earthquake photos circulating on WhatsApp, will hack a user's phone in 10 seconds. 🔗 Srijit Das ↗️ debunked the claim.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI

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