A 32-year-old fake doctor, Oladiti Saheed, has been arrested by the Osun command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), over the death of a pregnant woman in Ororuwo town, Boripe Local Government Area of the state.
The suspect has been falsely parading himself as a doctor for the past six years.
NSSDC’s State Commandant, Dr Akintayo Adaralewa, who paraded the suspect on Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Osogbo told journalists that his highest qualification was a Secondary School Certificate.
Adaralewa told journalists that the deceased, who was nine months and three weeks pregnant, visited the suspect’s hospital located at No. 2, Ororuwo town, in the Boripe Local Government area of the state on April 15.
The NSCDC boss said that the suspects in his confessional statement said that the pregnant woman visited his hospital because she could not continue ante-natal at her previous hospital due to a misunderstanding with her husband.
He said that the suspect attended to the victim and told her to come back when she started feeling signs of labour.
“On April 18, the victim fell into labour and was taken to the hospital of the suspect where she was delivered of a baby,” he said.
“The victim thereafter developed complications and was later rushed to a nearby hospital; painfully, she was pronounced dead on arrival.”
Adaralewa said that a discreet investigation revealed that the suspect also engaged in the training of people to become quack doctors with the payment of N5,000.
He said that the self-acclaimed doctor was not registered by the Nigerian Medical Association and “did not employ the service of any registered medical personnel to work in the so-called hospital.”
He said that the suspect would face the full wrath of the law upon the conclusion of investigations
The suspect told newsmen that he had attended to many pregnant women in the past six years, adding that he was trained by a quack doctor.
He also admitted that he had other six unqualified staff working with him and that he usually charge N30,000 per delivery.
Speaking, Dr Adedapo Adetoye, Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Osun, said that it was pathetic that there were still many quack doctors operating in the country
Adetoye, who was represented by Dr Ayodeji Ogungbemi, the NMA treasurer, commended the NSCDC for the arrest.
“Quackery is a stain on the integrity of doctors and the health sector not only in Osun but in the country at large. The suspect is a secondary school holder, who had been practicing for more than six years and only God knows how many lives that had lost in the hospital”, he said.
Ogungbemi said the national body of the association was trying everything possible to minimise quackery in the profession.
He said the national body had rolled out a stamp, which only a qualified doctor would have.
He urged the public to always ask for the registration number of any hospital they visited to distinguish fake from qualified doctors.
