UP cancels registrations of 19 more Ayurvedic doctors over forged degrees

Uttar Pradesh's board for Ayurvedic and Unani practitioners has cancelled the registrations of 19 more Ayurvedic doctors after physical verification showed that their degrees were forged, according to reports on 30 October 2026. The board, which reports name as the Uttar Pradesh Ayurvedic, Unani and Tibbi Medical Systems Board, has barred all 19 from treating patients with immediate effect and has lodged a complaint at the Hussainganj police station in Lucknow. The action follows the cancellation of 41 registrations for the same reason in August.

In India, a person may practise Ayurveda only after earning a recognised degree, usually the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), and registering with the state board. Registration is the public's main guarantee that the person behind the clinic sign has been trained. A forged degree breaks that guarantee. Patients may take medicines, follow diets or delay other care on the advice of someone who never completed the course.

The Uttar Pradesh cases also show how forged papers can pass through a system for years. Several of the 19 had been registered since 2021-22, which means they could have been treating patients for four or five years before the physical verification caught them. The August case, involving 41 doctors, showed a similar pattern, and the board then said it would look back at 15 years of registrations. The two rounds together mean 60 registrations cancelled on the same ground since August.

For Ayurveda itself, the cases cut both ways. They are a reminder that the system's reputation depends on trained, registered practitioners, and that cases of fake doctors can harm trust in genuine ones. They also show a regulator acting: checking documents at the source, removing names from the register and taking the matter to the police.

Short-term: The 19 practitioners can no longer treat patients legally, and the police complaint may lead to a criminal investigation into how the forged degrees were made and used. Clinics and private hospitals that employed them will have to replace them.

Long-term: The board's review of older registrations may find more cases. Other states could also look again at how they verify degrees before registering Ayush practitioners, and patients may increasingly check whether their doctor is on the state register.

Who is affected: Patients in Uttar Pradesh who consulted these practitioners, genuine Ayurvedic doctors whose standing depends on public trust, private clinics that employ Ayush doctors, and the state's registration board.

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