A complaint about a drug's price, no degree and no licence on record: the Raqqa 'neurosurgery consultant' who examined patients for years before inspectors caught him

In Syria, medical practice is supervised at provincial level by the health directorates of the Ministry of Health, while the Doctors' Syndicate holds the professional register on which a licensed physician must appear. In Raqqa, in the north east of the country, the Health Directorate's drug-monitoring inspectors check pharmacies for pricing and stock. In July 2026 one of those visits turned into a criminal case about a man who had for years called himself a consultant in neurosurgery and spine surgery.

According to Al-Ain News, which reported the Raqqa Health Directorate's announcement on 21 July 2026, the case began with a citizen's complaint about the high price of a medicine at a pharmacy in the city. Drug-monitoring inspectors went to the pharmacy and, during the inspection tour, came across a man who presented himself as a specialist in neurosurgery and spine surgery. After verification he was arrested. The directorate said he had been practising for years but did not disclose the exact period, and it identified him only by his initials.

Daily Beirut reported that a review of official records found no university degree and no licence to practise medicine in his name. Inspectors reportedly saw him examining patients, writing orders for tests and recommending surgical procedures. According to Al-Ain, the follow-up was handled by Dr Ibrahim al-Issa, head of the directorate's Drug Monitoring Department, in coordination with the Raqqa Doctors' Syndicate and the Criminal Security branch. Daily Beirut said the file was reclassified from a financial violation into a criminal case of medical misrepresentation, and the man was referred to the judiciary for practising medicine without qualifications. Neither report says how many patients he treated.

What stands out is how he was found. He was not exposed by anyone checking his credentials. The records were consulted only because a customer objected to the price of a drug and inspectors happened to be in the building. For years, patients accepted the title of consultant at face value, in a specialty where the advice given is whether or not to operate on someone's brain or spine. The check that ended it took a single visit.

For students and families, the lesson applies equally to a doctor, a college representative or an agent. A title and a confident manner prove nothing. Ask for the registration number and check it with the syndicate or health directorate before paying anyone. Apply the same discipline to a medical college: confirm its listing with the national regulator and in the WHO World Directory, pay fees only to the institution, and keep your original documents. Similar cases from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon are recorded elsewhere on this site.