A private clinic, a stamp with a registration number, health certificates issued without authority: Paraguay's fake gynaecologist of San Estanislao, charged in July 2025

In Paraguay, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare keeps the register of health professionals and the Superintendencia de Salud supervises private health facilities. Officials of both bodies were the complainants in a 2025 case in San Estanislao (Santaní), in San Pedro department, where a man ran a private clinic, posed as a specialist and issued health certificates without any authority to do so.

According to Hoy (25 June 2025), prosecutor Alexander Rodrigo Argüello Alderete of Unidad Penal N.º 4 led a raid on a facility operating as "Santa Isabel" near the Hospital Distrital de San Estanislao, after a complaint from officials of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare and the Superintendencia de Salud. Investigators seized a stamp bearing the suspect's name together with the professional registration number of another doctor, prescription pads printed with the clinic's name, a medical uniform carrying the supposed specialist's name, a stethoscope, a blood-pressure monitor, a scale and an instrument case. Several rooms had reportedly been used as an inpatient ward. Hoy named the suspect as Justo César Alfonzo Salinas, reported that he had allegedly posed as a gynaecologist-obstetrician, and said the offence under investigation was the production of non-authentic documents.

Última Hora (4 July 2025) reported that the Ministerio Público charged Alfonzo Salinas as the author of fraud, production of non-authentic documents, manipulation of technical graphics and improper production of health certificates. According to the preliminary investigation, he had presented false degrees and credentials to work as a health professional, deceiving patients and possibly institutions, and had issued medical certificates without the required authorisation. Prosecutors said they did not rule out further victims or accomplices and urged the public to verify health professionals' credentials. Hoy (12 September 2025) reported that after being charged he went into hiding, and was detained, aged 60, only when he arrived at the Hospital Distrital de Ñemby with pneumonia and refused to identify himself; staff called the Policía Nacional, who found a capture order issued by Juzgado Penal N° 2 of San Estanislao. He was held under police guard while recovering.

The mechanism, as the sources describe it, was borrowed legitimacy. The stamp carried a genuine registration number that belonged to another doctor, so anyone who checked only the number would have found a real entry, while the name on the stamp and the uniform did not belong to it. The case came apart only when health-ministry and superintendency officials complained and the prosecutor raided the premises.

The lesson for students and families, in Paraguay or anywhere, is that a printed prescription pad, a uniform with a name and a rubber stamp are the cheapest parts of a medical identity. Before trusting a doctor, a clinic or an adviser who claims a medical title, look the registration number up on the regulator's register and check that the name, the photo and the speciality all match that number. A health certificate issued by someone without authorisation is worthless and, as this case shows, can expose the issuer to criminal charges.