New Delhi: In an embarrassment to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), a 19-year-old man was found masquerading as a doctor on the hospital premises for almost five months.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, Adnan Khurram had made contacts among doctors across departments as well as medical students, and even used his fake doctor’s accreditation to attend various medical and political events.

He was well versed in medicine and his contacts helped him pass off as a doctor in front of ‘co-workers’.

It was only when AIIMS Resident Doctors’ Association wrote a letter to hospital authorities, raising concerns over the alleged impostor that the incident came to light. The authorities concerned at AIIMS, then, posted a photo of the impostor online, following which the 19-year-old was arrested by Delhi Police on Saturday, HT reports.

Khurram, whose papers reveal that he is a resident of Bihar, was active on social media, posting pictures at various medical and even political events, wearing a lab coat to pass off as a doctor. His reasons for impersonating a doctor for almost five months remains unclear.

He had been variously introducing himself as a medical student or junior resident doctor and even impressed some with his extensive knowledge of medicine.

The incident is being criticised as a serious lapse of security on the medical institute’s part. This is not the first time that impostors have been caught faking it as doctors inside AIIMS, India’s premiere medical institute.

In February, AIIMS authorities had reported an imposter, Ram Kishan Gupta, who had been impersonating a doctor and roaming inside the institute’s trauma centre, asking junior resident doctors to admit a patient.