Italian authorities are investigating 23 medical professionals on suspicion of issuing false medical certificates to keep irregular migrants out of pre-deportation detention centers. Prosecutors in Ravenna allege falsified documents in at least 34 migrant cases, and rights groups, medical associations and protest movements are now pushing back.

The investigation covers 21 infectious disease specialists and two psychiatrists, according to the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano. Only one doctor currently faces criminal charges, for "criminal conspiracy involving ideological forgery."

What do prosecutors allege?

Legal documents cited by the newspaper describe the case not as "individual, unrelated phenomena" but as "an associative structure with a division of roles and responsibilities" involving various medical practitioners. The alleged examinations took place in cities including Rome, Milan, Bologna and Florence.

Earlier this year, courts already banned three of the doctors from practising for ten months. Another five were removed from handling deportation cases, also for ten months.

On September 16, investigators searched several homes and seized phones — including those of doctors not directly under investigation, according to the immigration lawyers' association ASGI, which spoke to AFP.

Why do medical certificates matter in deportation?

Migrants without the legal right to remain in Italy cannot be held in pre-deportation detention centers, known as CPRs, if they are deemed medically too weak. Psychiatric vulnerabilities and infectious diseases are the main diagnoses used in such contexts — and in most instances they can prevent deportation altogether.

In 2025, the World Health Organization warned that conditions at some pre-deportation facilities were akin to a breeding ground for infectious diseases, and could perpetuate trauma and cause "serious psychiatric disorders." The Italian Society of Migration Medicine (SIMM) has previously described CPRs as highly "pathogenic" locations.

The investigative magazine La Via Libera reported that doctors at these facilities may have felt pressure from police to authorize deportations, and that conditions for full medical examinations there were inadequate, if not unsanitary.

How has politics reacted?

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the League party demanded severe consequences.

"If found guilty, they would be struck off the medical register and pay damages, out of their own pockets, for the failure to expel all the illegal immigrants they allegedly protected," he told reporters.

The National Federation of Medical Associations (Fnomceo) took a more cautious line. Its president, Filippo Anelli, said "the falsification of a medical certificate, if proven, constitutes serious misconduct," but added that "politics or media hype cannot preempt judgments and sanctions." He said doctors should never be regarded as "auxiliaries of security policies."

What are critics of the investigation saying?

Fabio Anselmo, a lawyer representing five doctors whose homes were searched, told ANSA: "I'm shocked and appalled. People who are not under investigation are treated like mafia criminals." He said doctors were taken to police stations in the early hours so their phones and laptops could be seized, and blamed the Ravenna Prosecutor's Office rather than the police.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reminded the Ravenna investigators that doctors operate under the Hippocratic Oath, citing the principles of independence and responsibility that guide the profession. ASGI warned that doctors consulted in migration cases risk being reduced to "mere bureaucrats" who rubber-stamp detentions.

Where have protests taken place?

In Bologna, medical professionals and citizens rallied outside the city's police headquarters in solidarity with the accused doctors. Several associations launched a campaign titled "Care is not a crime" and appealed to the Ministry of Health, which has not yet commented, according to La Via Libera.

The local healthcare provider Laboratorio di salute popolare posted on Instagram: "We stand alongside our colleagues to reiterate that our profession, the care we provide, cannot be bent to the demands of a state that seeks our consent to confine people in places that have already been defined as pathogenic and deadly."

What is the wider detention context?

Italy currently operates nine CPRs, where migrants are held mainly for processing before return to their home countries, and the government continues to invest heavily in them. Following legal changes in Brussels, Italy may now launch detention centers with partner countries outside the EU — a plan backed by several EU member states. The investigation in Ravenna remains ongoing, and readers should follow official announcements from the Ravenna Prosecutor's Office for developments.