A guard at a rural hospital of Malda district has been accused of posing as a doctor, treating patients and also taking consultation fees.

The guard, so far known only as Sohail, used the quarters of the Gazole hospital superintendent Anjan Roy, who is away on leave since October 4 and will join on Thursday, to bolster his impersonation. Sohail is absconding.

The caretaker of the quarters has been detained for questioning by hospital authorities.

The issue came to light after a woman patient on Wednesday suspected the guard and informed other doctors at the hospital.

The woman said she went to the hospital to consult a doctor for tumour in her uterus. But before she could enter the outpatient department, a person, whom she suspects to be a broker, approached her and suggested she consult the superintendent. “The superintendent is available at his quarters where he occasionally sees patients, this person told me,” said the woman.

Accordingly, she went to the superintendent’s quarters. There, in absence of Roy, Sohail sat posing as a doctor. The caretaker at the gate ushered the woman inside.

Sohail examined her physically and wrote her a prescription on Roy’s official letterhead, and then advised her to buy the medicines from a private chemist shop, the woman said.

This triggered her suspicions, she said. “If I can get medicines free from the hospital, why should I have to buy them?” she said, adding she went to the hospital again.

There, she asked for free medicines and showed the prescription.

“The on-duty doctors were taken aback to see that the prescription was issued by the superintendent, who they said, was on leave. Immediately a hullabaloo was created, and the guard at the quarters scampered off. The caretaker is detained but he is refusing the charges that he knew anything about this impersonation,” said a source at the hospital.

Shyam Sundar Haldar, a senior doctor at the hospital, said: “The guard is at large. The matter has been reported to the police and district health authorities”

District health officials said they have started probing the case.

“We are collecting information about the incident. If the allegation is found to be true, stern action would be taken against all persons concerned,” said Bhushan Chakraborty, the chief medical officer of health of Malda.

Superintendent Roy was not available for comment. Calls made to his cellphone by this paper went unanswered.