Bogus doctors 'collude' with real medics – HPCSA

Some doctors in SA have been found to be colluding with unregistered fraudsters to run their medical practices.

This has come to light as the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) said its inspectorate office has identified culprits almost every month and that the behaviour seems to have reached “alarming proportion”.

Spokesperson Christopher Tsatsawane said the problem of bogus practitioners and fraudulent activities has recently shown an increase in different communities and this is a cause for concern for the HPCSA and the public.

He said the modus operandi involved most fraudsters who have been found to “identify work as locums (place holder) under registered doctors”.

Tsatsawane said others make use of stolen identities. 

“Registered practitioners normally secure the services of an unregistered person to assist them in their health facilities. Unregistered locums are always known by the registered practitioners,” said Tsatsawane.

He said this normally happens in private practices.

Tsatsawane said once the council is made aware of doctors using unregistered people to run their practices, they are referred to the board for unprofessional conduct.

The HPCSA on average catches at least four bogus doctors in the country a month with 124 nabbed over the past two financial years.

The council said the statistics were alarming and most were nabbed in Gauteng.

The matter about bogus doctors has been put in the spotlight by the recent cases of Matthew Lani and Kingsley Chele who are accused of impersonating doctors.

Tsatsawane said they worked with law enforcement agencies to inspect practitioners in different health facilities to bring culprits to book. 

“We inspect health facilities unannounced and ensure that culprits are reported to the police to ensure that the law takes its course.

“If found guilty of this offence, upon conviction culprits will be liable to a fine or imprisonment or both," he said.

While there is no national registry for bogus doctors, Tsatsawane said they have "increased our concerted efforts to run a campaign of creating public awareness to share information on what to do should there be a suspicion of bogus practitioners.

"This campaign is continuous. We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to bring culprits to book".

On what the public can do to vet whether their doctor is legit, HPCSA said: “Members of the public can contact the HPCSA call centre on 0123389300/01 for our Call Centre Agents to assist in the verification of the practitioner's registration.

“Members of the public can also log into our website and verify the registration of practitioners online.”

Tsatsawane said the public only needed the practitioner's name and surname to verify if they were registered. 

chabalalaj@sowetan.co.za