Woman posing as doctor at Tembisa Hospital arrested

A woman pretending to be a doctor at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital will be appearing in court soon after she was arrested on Tuesday evening.

The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) announced that the fake doctor was handed over to the police and spent the night in custody while hospital management opened a case at Rabosotho Police Station.

Putting lives at risk

“Unqualified individuals posing as medical professionals put innocent lives at risk. It is a criminal offence for any person to impersonate healthcare professionals and to practice while not registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa,” said GDoH spokesperson Motalatale Modiba.

The department confirmed that the matter is under investigation by the Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital facility management and police to establish how the bogus doctor gained access to the hospital.

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“The department is continuously strengthening measures at facilities to safeguard the wellbeing of patients and staff,” Modiba said.

“Our employees and the public are urged to be vigilant against imposters who seek to undermine the work of healthcare professionals.”

Other fake doctors

In February, another woman posing as a doctor was arrested at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital after she was caught trying to solicit a bribe from a patient.

The department said she was nabbed after she demanded that an escort to a patient pay R700 to assist the patient.

The escort notified the hospital security personnel, who nabbed the bogus doctor at the hospital’s pedestrian gate.

ALSO READ: ‘No evidence suggests they’ve seen patients’: Health ministry on bogus doctors

Meanwhile, late last year, Abdulkader Elyas and Matthew Lani were exposed for claiming to be qualified doctors in the Western Cape and Joburg, respectively.

Elyas, a Cape Town councillor at the time, claimed on his LinkedIn profile to have studied at the University of Cape Town (UCT) for a Bachelor of Business Science in actuarial science in 2015 and 2018, as well as for a medical degree from 2013 to 2018.

Lani, who dispensed health advice on TikTok, claimed to be a registered medical doctor with a degree from Wits University.

It was found that neither of the two possessed the qualifications they claimed to have.