The baby girl who was falsely promoted as burn victim and 'alleged doctor' Qamar Ali Khan (OpIndia and Ketto)
In an exposé, a dermatologist exposed one Qamar Ali, who does not hold any doctor degree but is issuing certificates to infants. The dermatologist, Dr Neelam Singh, also known as ‘The Skin Doctor’ exposed a fraud in his tweet on platform ‘X’. In a series of tweets, he informed that an infant suffering from a skin condition called ‘congenital ichthyosis’ was being falsely presented as a ‘burn victim’ to draw funds at the crowdfunding platform Ketto.
The exposé
“Huge Fraud alert: Saw this on @ketto’s offical handle. Well shot, emotionally appealing ad for donations. Except, this is NOT a case of fire accident as claimed by ketto, but a form of congenital ichthyosis. So decided to analyse the medical certificate attached,” wrote Dr Neelam Singh.
The victim child, identified as baby Ayesha was promoted as a burn victim falsely. The certificate claiming the same was issued by a supposed ‘multi-speciality hospital’ named ‘Sankalp’ in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
“Left side is the medical certificate given by some Sankalp Hospital Saharanpur. Right is the Google details of that “Multi-speciality hospital”. No phone number, no website. Just 5 reviews, all 5 stars,” he wrote.
Notably, the ‘alleged doctor’ Qmar Ali Khan does not hold an MBBS degree and is a Unani medical practitioner. Dr Neelam Singh claimed that the other two doctors, who are listed in the certificate, namely, Dr Balwinder Dhawan and Dr Yatish Kumar, do not work at the Sankalp Hospital.
“So let’s come to the third doctor on the certificate, Dr Qamar Ali (BUMS), not MBBS. He exists. Patients of certain demographic profile, takes certificate from this hospital and post it on Ketto/Milap, who platform them without verification,” the Tweet added further.
The dermatologist said, “Patients of certain demographic profile, takes certificate from this hospital and post it on Ketto/Milap, who platform them without verification,”
Dr Neelam shared multiple screenshots that show how Qmar Ali and Sankalp Hospital were falsely providing certificates to children.
“There are hundreds of donation campaigns on Ketto/Milap which use medical certificate of this (possibly dummy) hospital only. This needs thorough investigation,” Dr Neelam Singh emphasised.
“Both Milaap and Ketto writes in their 100 pages terms & conditions (which you don’t read) that they don’t guarantee the accuracy of claims posted on fundraisers on their websites. So it’s totally open to fraud. Yet you guys donate thinking it’ll go for a noble cause for sure,” Dr Singh concluded.
Dr Neelam Singh is a renowned dermatologist and she completed her MD – Dermatology, Venereology & Leprosy from Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in 2016. Following her exposé the fundraising campaign for the daughter of Aysha ended within a day by Ketto.
Kettos response
Following an uproar on social media, the crowdsourcing platform ‘Ketto’ issued a statement. In a tweet, it said, “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We understand the seriousness of this situation, and we want to assure you that we are taking it up very sternly.”
“Our compliance team is already investigating the case, and a senior member of the team is on their way to the hospital to verify this issue as quickly as possible. We will keep you updated on our progress,” it further added.
It claimed, “We would also like to clarify that, as a matter of policy, no funds are withdrawn until the treatment has taken place and the bills have been uploaded. In this particular case, the treatment has not yet started because the fundraiser only went live 10 days ago.”
“In the meantime, we have stopped all communication around this case. We want to make sure that we are not spreading any misinformation. We look forward to the continued support of our community, in saving lives,” Ketto concluded.’
Dr Neelam’s response
Dermatologist Dr Neelam Singh replied to the Tweet by Ketto. He said, “You guys invest huge money in advertising and marketing. Why can’t you invest a fraction of that to hire a panel of experts to verify the diagnosis and medical documents and start taking up the responsibility of what is put on your platform?”
“You just write “we’ve no liability if any case is found fraud” in terms and conditions and that’s it. People donate in good faith thinking that if it’s on Ketto, it must be genuine. A huge scam is going on. Hundreds of cases, all with similar emotional videos and medical documents from this specific hospital. It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he highlighted.
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