Dubai hospital worker accepted cash to hand out sick notes

Scammer caught after undercover operation by police

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A Dubai hospital worker who accepted bribes for providing sick notes to patients has been jailed for one year.

The rogue employee started issuing the certificates after getting his hands on a stamp used to officially approve requests for leave from work.

It belonged to an orthopaedic consultant who left the hospital.

When police were alerted to the scam, they sent an undercover officer posing as a patient to meet the Jordanian.

The undercover officer called the employee and asked him for a sick leave certificate.

“We spoke on the phone and he asked me how many days I needed,” the policeman said.

The men agreed to a three-day note attributed to back pain, which would cost the patient Dh450.

The officer successfully applied for an arrest warrant, allowing the conversation between the two men to be recorded when they met.

They met near the emergency ward entrance of Emirates Hospital, in Jumeirah Beach Road, on January 9 to complete the transaction.

Within minutes, a police team swooped in and arrested the offender. Investigations revealed the man issued nearly 40 sick leave certificates.

He was convicted at Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday of of seeking bribes, forgery, use of forged documents and stealing a doctor’s stamp.

He was fined Dh151,000 and will be deported once he has served his prison sentence.