Health research councils warn of bogus Covid-19 researchers

The Limpopo provincial health department, Human science research council (HSRC) and the South African medical research council (SAMRC) have warned the public about bogus Covid-19 researchers conning unsuspecting people of their hard-earned money under the pretext of being health researchers from the department.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande recently announced the launch of Covid-19 survey aimed at understanding the prevalence of Covid-19 antibodies in a representative sample of people living in South Africa.

The research is also expected to inform the research team if more people had been infected with Covid-19 than previously reported. This will include those who may have been infected without knowing either due to being asymptomatic, having mild symptoms, or not being able to access testing facilities.

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Ramaphosa said testing was voluntary and any attempt to vaccinate people against their will and knowledge was deemed unethical and a violation of human rights.

However, the research has since been allegedly used by bogus researchers with the sole aim of lining up their pockets through false and criminal appearance.

This saw Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba issuing a statement to warn those who may have been approached or going to be approached by such criminals to be on alert.

Ramathuba said her department had been inundated with calls from concerned residents about some impostors going around communities drawing blood samples from community members claiming to be researchers of Covid-19 from her department.

“We wish to distance ourselves from these impostors and warn community members to be vigilant of such bogus researchers. We encourage community members who happen to encounter these malpractices to immediately inform the police,” said Ramathuba in a statement.

The highly perturbed MEC said communities must know that any researcher who claims to be from the department will only visit communities through established community structures such as local councillors/ ward committee members, traditional leadership and the local health care facility managers.

“Reports about these bogus researchers were mainly from the Vhembe district in Musina and the Mopani district in Tzaneen. We are also told these bogus researchers would require about R1,500 from the unsuspecting people to draw the blood. We are working hands in glove with the police to investigate the matter and report accordingly back to the public,” said the MEC.

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Genuine and officially dispatched researchers will provide proof of employment with the organisation they claim to represent, proof or confirmation that they are authorised to do the survey and should be appropriately branded to reflect the organisation they claim to represent, added the HSRC.

The council said since the outbreak, about 19,000 interviews with people over 12 years of age in all provinces had been conducted.

“Our mandate is to inform the effective formulation and monitoring of government policy; to evaluate policy implementation; to stimulate public debate through the effective dissemination of research-based data and fact-based research results; to foster research collaboration; and to help build research capacity and infrastructure for the human sciences,” said HSRC senior communicator Manusha Pillai in a statement.

-news@citizen.co.za

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