Bogotá.- The Colombian justice sentenced to between six and seven years in prison eleven doctors who, through false documents, gained access to diplomas from Brazilian universities that accredited them as specialists in plastic and cosmetic surgery, the Prosecutor's Office reported on Tuesday.
Eight of the defendants were sentenced to seven years in prison, and the other three to six years and six months in prison and 200 times the current monthly minimum wage. All were barred from holding public office for five years.
"The convicted individuals provided false documents claiming to have completed 2,616 hours of in-person postgraduate studies in Brazil. However, it was proven that they did not meet the educational institution's requirements and were in that country for short periods of time," the institution said in a statement.
For that reason, Bogotá circuit criminal judges sentenced the accused to sentences of more than six years in prison, because "they were all found responsible for the crimes of falsification of private documents and procedural fraud."
"During the course of the investigation, it was established that the doctors did not meet the university's four-year attendance requirement and were in the country for short periods, between 51 and 95 days maximum," the Prosecutor's Office added.
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With false documentation They accessed the validation of their degrees in the Ministry of Education of Colombia, Therefore, the ministry "must cancel the resolutions for the validation of academic degrees," the report added.
Likewise, the Ministry of Health will have to update the National Single Registry of Healthcare Human Talent "so that citizens know the real clinical skills and specialties that these professionals can develop."
