Certificate tampering in nothing new in the country where many professions are fraught with people, some in the high echelons of their profession, having counterfeit or doctored certificates. These fraudsters have been involved in immoral and illicit acts of forging certificates and personal documents to get fat jobs, perquisites and swift promotions. Authorities have arraigned many people with tampered documents or certificates, which they have presented to achieve their goals of getting jobs, promotion and or opportunities to pursue higher education in the country or abroad. Though the bearers of sham documents have often been put behind bars or fined, these illegal acts have kept happening, thanks to weaker government surveillance and investigation.

The recent arrest of the several doctors has exposed that the country's highly sensitive health sector is not free from the swindlers who enjoy good positions with the help of forged credentials. The Central Investigation Bureau nabbed seven doctors who were accused of tampering their School Leaving Certificates purposely to pursue medical studies in Bangladesh or in the country's medical colleges. Besides, the investigating agency also busted a racket engaged in producing fake documents by forging official stamps and signatures. Surprisingly, the accused doctors not only obtained their degrees from abroad allowing them to study or work in the country, but also passed their eligibility exams conducted by the Nepali Medical Council.

The success of these doctors hints at another depressing situation- many fake certificate rackets in the nation are still at work, who dare to fabricate counterfeit school and college mark-sheets along with other documents that are necessary for a prospective medical or other student to pursue medical or other higher studies. The perpetrators of such an illegal business also assist many who want to go abroad or join professions in return of hefty fees. These fraudsters, who are accused of providing several kinds of forged documents on demand have caused a greater damage as many people in the nation believe that they have supplied forged and fake credentials to many incompetent people that have facilitated to get jobs many public and private institutions. A thorough investigation at all of these institutions will without doubt bring many wrongdoers to our notice.

The aforementioned sorry state reveals a truth that our authority has lacked a robust mechanism to spot the duplicity. The people, who are engaged in faking documents, often lack professional competence and are a risk to the profession in which they are associated. One can only imagine what our health profession would find itself if the doctors, who have earned medical degrees based on fake testimonials, provide much required health services. These quacks always put patients' life at risk. Our authorities are therefore in an urgent need to find ways to discourage this dangerous fraudulence. As fraudsters these days take the help of technology to forge or fabricate testimonials, our authorities too require a technology-driven robust mechanism to foil such deceits. This will be beneficial to those who possess genuine credentials and are honest to their jobs, but have failed to excel in their fields just because the fraudsters have grabbed opportunities with the help of phoney documents.