Medical certificates (MC) are meant to protect workers when they are genuinely unwell. But when that trust is abused, the consequences can go far beyond a single day off.
That was the reality uncovered by a clinic staff member after a routine verification call from a company’s human resources (HR) department exposed what appeared to be a case of falsified MCs.
A routine HR check raises red flags
According to the clinic staff member, the HR representative contacted the clinic to confirm whether an employee had sought treatment on a specific date.
However, after checking their records, the clinic found that the individual had never visited the clinic on the date stated in the MC.
The situation grew more suspicious when the HR representative shared that the employee had been regularly submitting MCs from the same clinic.
“The HR officer told us their employee frequently submits MCs from our clinic. But when we checked our system, the last time the staff member actually came here was in 2024,” the clinic staff member said.
What further raised concern was that all the MCs submitted by the employee allegedly carried the same doctor’s name and clinic stamp, dating from 2024 all the way until 2026.
Old clinic MC template becomes key clue
Sensing something was amiss, the clinic asked the HR representative to send over photos of the MCs that had been submitted.
“That’s when we were really shocked,” the staff member said. “The MC was using our clinic’s old template.”
The staff member explained that when the clinic first opened around 2023, it was still operating on an older system that could not generate MCs digitally.
At the time, MCs were manually prepared using Microsoft Word. However, the clinic upgraded to a new system in early 2025 and has not used the old template since.
Based on the MCs provided, the clinic believes the employee may have reused the outdated template and simply altered the dates before submitting the documents to their employer.
“It’s unbelievable that someone would fake an MC like this,” the staff member added.
“The doctor can actually take legal action because their stamp was misused. I really don’t know what goes through the minds of people who do things like this.”
Serious action needs to be taken
The incident quickly drew attention online, with many netizens urging the clinic to take firm action against the employee, warning that such behaviour could have serious implications for multiple parties.
“These are the kinds of people who cause companies to impose strange MC requirements, to the point where employees who are genuinely sick are forced to come to work,” one netizen commented.
Another netizen called for stronger action, saying, “Just lodge a police report. People like this damage the reputation of doctors.”
