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Picture Courtesy: (News24) A woman pretending to be a doctor has been apprehended at Tembisa Hospital on Tuesday night.
(The Post News) – A woman, who was allegedly posing as a doctor, was arrested at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital on Tuesday night.
The Gauteng Health Department has since filed charges, handing the woman over to the police, where she spent the night in custody. The suspect is scheduled to appear in court soon after facility management lodged the complaint at Rabasotho police station.
The hospital and police are investigating the circumstances under which the woman entered the hospital.
Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said unqualified people posing as medical professionals are putting innocent lives at risk.
He stated that it is an offence to impersonate a health professional and practice the profession without being registered with the South African Health Professions Council.
“Our employees and the public are advised to be watchful against fraudsters who aim to undermine the work of healthcare professionals,” the provincial health department warned.
Modiba added that the department was continuously strengthening measures within healthcare facilities to safeguard the health of patients and staff.
In February, the Gauteng Department of Health warned the public not to fall prey to prowling bogus health practitioners who demand bribes before providing their services. The warning comes after more than 120 cases of illegal doctors were reported in the past three years.
The provincial health department issued a warning subsequent to the arrest of another woman posing as a doctor at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto on Sunday, February 25. She is said to have asked patients in need of help for R700.
A citizen became suspicious when the fake doctor, wearing green scrubs with the name Dr. Zulu imprinted on the uniform, advised her to meet at the pedestrian gate where the payment was required.
When security and facility management asked her to provide her Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) registration number and a persal number, the fake doctor could not produce them.
Last year, the department opened a criminal investigation against a TikToker known to his followers as Dr. Matthew Lani, who was alleging that he was a doctor in Gauteng.
The department said that Lani used the identity of a second-year medical intern at Tembisa Tertiary Hospital, Sanele Sobani Vambani Zingelwa. His arrest came after security guards caught him wandering around wards at Helen Joseph Hospital.
The 27-year-old man, who had built a large social media following by posing as a doctor, has since been released from police custody after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) determined there was
sufficient evidence to charge him.
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