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On August the 30th, a platform called Health News Today, published a press release, announcing that Moroccan urologist Karim Touijer has been named a 2018 Top Doctor in New York City, New York. The award was referred to, by the same source, as a way of «honoring healthcare practitioners who have demonstrated clinical excellence while delivering the highest standards of patient care».
The information was quickly reported by Moroccan media. Newspapers such as H24info, Le 360, Bladi and Morocco World News quoted the Health News Today communiqué. The latter, however, did not give further information on the prize the Moroccan doctor, currently operating in the United States, received.
In an attempt to reach Dr Karim Touijri, Yabiladi called on Tuesday the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he operates. On the phone, his staff assured that he was actually «recognized by the Top Doctors Awards, which is an association» and not named as a New York’s 2018 Top Doctor.
An elusive award
When trying to find other sources on the award handed down to the urologist, Yabiladi couldn’t find any. Health News Today was the only platform that spoke about Dr Karim Touijer and his Top Doctor recognition. It also featured several communiqués, announcing that other doctors in the US won the Top Doctor Awards and published random information on health and medicine in the country.
By the end of the same press release, Health News Today described the Top Doctor as an award that «specializes in recognizing and commemorating the achievements of today’s most influential and respected doctors in medicine», adding that the award's selection process «considers education, research contributions, patient reviews, and other quality measures to identify top doctors».
The same exact introduction was found on «top-doctor-awards.com», a platform that grants practitioners in the US «Top Doctor» certificates. On the website, a doctor can fill a document with his information (full name, email, hospital/practice, phone number). One can order his/her award on the website which also asks you to «fill out the form to document the award on a beautiful wall piece» if you have been recognized as a Top Doctor.
The Top Doctor Awards website did not feature a contact number for visitors. It only listed reasons why doctors should be recognized and an «About» section that resembled the one copied and pasted by Health News Today.
By clicking on TDA Magazine on the same website, you get redirected to another website called «Top Doctors Magazine». The latter has several articles on different doctors, and a video that was published in May 2017 by a Youtube channel called Doc Finder, which mentions a «physician's education/training, practice information, contact information, and complete Doctor biography».
Many Top Doctors Awards
When looking up the Top Doctor Awards, Yabiladi stumbled upon a 2012 ABC News investigation. Entitled «ABC News Investigates Top Doctor Awards: Are They Always Well Deserved?», the article found out that «there are dozens of different companies in the business of awarding some version of 'Top Doctor' awards». The investigation even showed that some awarding organizations «received money for the award plaques» it gives to doctors.
ABC News cites the example of Dr Mark Silverberg, who was nominated as one of the 2012 Top Dentists while allegedly he «hasn't practiced a single day of dentistry since his training days were over in 1986». In his case the award was granted by the Consumers' Research Council of America which is «an organization that provides the public with information guides for professional services».
