A DODGY doctor has gone on the run after infecting dozens of people with HIV by re-using a dirty syringe.

The fake medic has now sparked a major health alert in the town of Bangarmau in Uttar Pradesh where he treated hundreds of patients.

2 The fake medic has now sparked a major medical panic in the northern town of Bangarmau Credit: Alamy

So far 33 have tested positive for the deadly infection at government-organised HIV screening camps, according to SP Choudhary, chief medical officer

The camps were set up after several suspected HIV cases showed up during routine tests at the district hospitals in Bangarmau late last year.

"We ask HIV patients various things to know the source of infection," Choudhary said.

"When we asked these patients whether they had used common syringes, some of them told us about a doctor they went to who uses the same syringe on all his patients."

2 Police say the man at the centre of the HIV scare has now gone on the run Credit: AFP

Police chief Arun Pratap Singh said a criminal investigation had now been opened against the suspect doctor who he named as Rajendra Kumar.

Singh said Kumar had gone into hiding and police were searching for him.

He said the doctor could be charged with carrying out a negligent act likely to spread infection, voluntarily causing grievous harm and practising medicine without having registration as a medical practitioner.

"Patients have told us this man is about 35 years old and would go around on a bicycle, giving out pills and injections to treat colds, coughs and other ailments. He is a quack," Choudhary said.

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A shortage of doctors in India leads many patients to depend on unqualified practitioners, many of whom work out of hole-in-the-wall clinics in rural areas.

The Indian Medical Association estimates that about 45 per cent of the people in India who practice medicine have no formal training.

Critics have in the past blamed a lack of stringent criminal penalties that allow quacks to thrive.

The HIV-positive patients are being treated at a government college in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.