📰 From the news · Impersonating a real college/agent
Two men aged 33 and 62, forged documents and Rs 1.5 million of medicines: the Meegalewa 'doctors' arrested by Sri Lanka's anti-vice unit in Kurunegala district
Sri Lanka has one statutory register of medical practitioners, kept by the Sri Lanka Medical Council, and only a person named on it may lawfully treat patients. The register matters because the country has a long-running problem with people who practise without being on it, a problem recorded elsewhere on this site. Away from Colombo, a confident manner and a few framed certificates are often all the proof a patient asks for.
According to Ada Derana, on 6 October 2026 officers of the Walana Central Anti-Vice Striking Force raided premises in the Meegalewa police area of Kurunegala district and arrested two men, aged 33 and 62, who were allegedly treating patients while posing as doctors. Both are residents of the Meegalewa area. Acting on information received, the unit was assisted by the Regional Director of Health Services for Kurunegala. The reports said the two men were alleged to have been practising on the strength of forged documents.
A stock of medicines estimated to be worth about Rs 1.5 million was taken into custody along with the suspects, Ada Derana and the Sri Lanka Mirror reported. Onlanka reported that the raid took place on a Tuesday afternoon and that the two men were handed over to Meegalewa Police Station. According to the Sri Lanka Mirror, further investigations are being carried out by Kurunegala district Drugs Inspector officers, Medical Officers of Health and the Meegalewa Police. None of the three reports says which documents were forged, names the suspects or mentions charges or a court date.
The case shows how little a document on a wall proves. A patient cannot tell a genuine certificate from a forged one, and in practice nobody asks for the Medical Council registration number that would settle the question. Those who did check were a police unit acting on a tip-off and the district's health officials, and drugs inspectors have joined the inquiry, since an unregistered clinic can also mean unregulated dispensing. The medicines seized, worth about Rs 1.5 million, give some idea of how much an unregistered practice can hand out before anyone looks.
For a student or family considering medicine, the lesson is the one that runs through every case on this site. Certificates are easy to forge and cheap to frame; registers are not. Before trusting a doctor, look the name up in the Sri Lanka Medical Council register rather than reading the wall. Before paying for a seat overseas, check the college in the WHO World Directory of Medical Schools and with the regulator where you intend to practise, pay the institution rather than an agent, and keep your originals. Checking a register costs nothing, and it is the whole defence.
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This is a news-sourced case summary written by the TrustMBBS team, not a first-person account; see the sources above. They reflect one person's experience and are not a verdict on any institution. Report your own: Report a scam or tell your story.