The National Police of Spain arrested a 34-year-old Cuban man accused of impersonating the identity and credentials of a doctor specialized in digestive health.
The arrested individual saw around 800 patients at a private clinic in Madrid between July 2023 and April of this year.
The Cuban, whose identity has not been disclosed, was not authorized to practice medicine in Spanish territory, although the press in the Iberian country did not specify whether the detainee was a doctor in his country of origin in the specialty for which he was consulting illegally in Spain.
The investigation started at the beginning of last month following a complaint from a doctor who claimed that another person was using their professional credentials, as reported by the Spanish press on Tuesday, citing the Madrid Police Headquarters.
The informant stated that he had been working at a clinic in Madrid as a specialist in the digestive and endoscopy area until July 2023, and claimed that someone was still consulting there pretending to be him.
During the investigation, it was verified that the complainant's information was still available on the medical center's website and in the clinic itself, even though he was not the one attending to the patients.
They also verified that the Cuban impersonator was not authorized to practice medicine in Spain and that people were leaving the place with prescriptions and medical tests prescribed using the complainant's license number.
The police estimates that over the months in which the Cuban worked at the private clinic, he invoiced more than a thousand scheduled appointments to 784 patients.
The police have also investigated as an accomplice in the case - although he has not been arrested in his case - the person responsible for a company that provided professionals to different medical centers, where the impersonated doctor had previously worked.
On April 22nd, the Cuban individual was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of the crimes of identity theft, falsification of documents, and professional intrusion, and has been made available to the judicial authorities.
At the time of the arrest, two medical stamps were seized from him, as well as four prescriptions and flyers for carrying out tests with the complainant's stamp.
The official information has not specified whether the private clinic involved - whose name has not been disclosed either - will receive any type of sanction, nor if any charges will be brought against the person responsible for the company that hired the Cuban.
The company billed a percentage of the amount paid by the different insurance companies, both for consultations and for medical tests prescribed by their professionals.
Protests over delays in the process of validating medical degrees in Spain
At the end of April, Cuban doctors based in Spain protested in front of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid demanding greater speed in the validation of their university degrees. They claimed that, since September 2023, the validation of degrees from the island has been halted.
The call was led by the "Cuban Homologations Movement in Spain," "Homologation Fair Now," the "Association of Cuban Doctors in Spain," the "Spanish Federation of Doctors," as well as several unions and non-governmental organizations, as reported by the media outlet Árbol Invertido at the time.
According to several participants, some homologation processes have taken up to 7 years, during which professionals are forced to work in jobs unrelated to their training, which is particularly alarming given the shortage of medical personnel in Spain, affecting almost 500,000 patients.
Despite the law stipulating a maximum period of six months for homologation, the average waiting times are around two years. During that time, doctors must subsist by working in cafeterias, restaurants, and other jobs that have nothing to do with their training.
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