A Greek doctor who lives in Cyprus was arrested in his native country, accused of playing a “leading role” in a prescription forgery ring.

The man had been assigned to work in a health centre in the Boeotia regional unit in central Greece, and stands accused of using patients’ Amka numbers, their government identification numbers from Greece’s social security system, without their knowledge to procure prescription drugs.

This reportedly cost Greece’s National agency for the provision of health services (Eopyy) “several million euros”.

An audit of the transactions found that between 2020 and January this year, the man had prescribed a specific drug a total of 3,679 times, issuing the prescription 69 times to his own mother, 56 times to his father, 31 times to his wife, 18 times to his son, and 12 times to his daughter.

Eoppy’s audit also found that the doctor was prescribing drugs in doses which are double or more than double the recommended dose approved by Greece’s National organisation for medicines (Eof).

Additionally, he allegedly procured a weight loss drug and illegally exported it to Cyprus, selling it at a profit of €50 per dose.

The man’s arrest mirrors a similar scandal which had taken place in northern Cyprus last year, wherein a total of 74 people, of whom 17 were doctors, 48 were pharmacists, three were otherwise employed at pharmacies, and six were members of the general public, were arrested for similar crimes.

During the autumn of 2023, images of doctors and pharmacists being led into courthouses in handcuffs became an almost daily occurrence, with even former ‘prime minister’ Sibel Siber being arrested in connection with the investigations.