Last week, a 32-year-old Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination holder, Saheed Oladiti, alleged to be claiming to be a medical doctor, was arrested by the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps over the death of a pregnant woman in Ororuwo town.
Oladiti, it was alleged, delivered the woman of a baby, after which she developed complications leading to her eventual death.
The spokesperson for the Osun NSCDC, Kehinde Adeleke, said the suspect had been operating an unlicensed clinic in Ororuwo town for over six years and two months.
Adeleke also said the suspect was engaging in the training of medical personnel at the cost of N5, 000 per trainee.
While calling on members of the public to be mindful of medical institutions they visit whenever they need to attend to their health, the Osun NSCDC Commandant, Michael Adaralewa, called on the residents to report quacks parading themselves as medical experts to security agencies for prompt action.
If there is any question that has remained unanswered to millions of Nigerians in the health sector, it is unarguably the nefarious activities of fake doctors.
Not a few Nigerians have suffered from the nefarious activities of these fake doctors.
For instance, not a few Nigerians were recently shocked to hear the case of a 12-year-old boy, Adebola Akin-Bright, whose intestines were reported to be missing at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, to which the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced that the state government would take over all the expenses for the operation to ensure the boy’s life was saved.
Earlier, the management of LASUTH had absolved itself of the allegation that it was culpable in the case of the 12-year-old boy’s missing intestines.
The boy’s mother, Deborah Abiodun, had told journalists that her son’s small intestines were missing.
Unfortunately, Adebola died in the hospital.
In a similar vein, the Plateau State Police Command arrested a medical doctor, Noah Kekere, for alleged organ harvesting carried out in his hospital in Jos, the state capital.
“Quacks are operating across the country as a result of the ineptitude and lack of political will of the governments and their agents at all levels to inspect, monitor and enforce the law for the benefit of the citizens.”
The Nigerian Medical Association described fake doctors as in some cases, dropouts from medical schools, or auxiliary nurses who have trained under licensed medical practitioners who may have worked in pharmacies or some other medical institutions.
Not only that, they have severally offered tips that when anyone visits a hospital or clinic in the quest for treatment such person should look out for a license, usually issued by the State Ministry of Health, and further advised that where the display of a license is not seen that the expediency to be wary of patronising such a health facility arises.
The harm that quack or fake doctors cause in society cannot be overemphasized. Many have died and some are left with an ailment they will have to treat for the rest of their lives as a result of an encounter with a quack doctor.
The proliferation of quacks has contributed greatly to perinatal outcomes, mortality, and morbidity in the country.
Majority of them like Saheed Oladiti in Osun State are fraudulent pretenders who claim to have medical skill, knowledge, qualifications or credentials that they don’t possess as a medical doctor.
There are reported cases where auxiliary nurses open medical facilities and embark on doing surgery for innocent patients.
Hundreds of innocent souls are being killed by these quacks on a daily basis as a result of their unprofessional activities.
We urge the various state governments to take urgent actions by establishing monitoring units to enforce and clamp down on illegal medical facilities in their states.
The numbers of victims of quackery across the country cannot be over emphasized as thousands of residents seek quacks on a daily basis ignorantly.
We are calling on the various state governments to be proactive in finding lasting solutions to this menace of quackery in Nigeria.
They should establish a taskforce to eradicate the deadly quackery activities within the country.
Quacks are operating across the country as a result of the ineptitude and lack of political will of the governments and their agents at all levels to inspect, monitor and enforce the law for the benefit of the citizens.
Hundreds of people are being killed on a daily basis by the process of trial and error treatment given by these quacks and it is also affecting the medical system.
The government can put an end to these preventable deaths.
The governments, both federal and the state, should come to the rescue of the people by clamping down on these illegal medical facilities that are springing up across the country.
There are many laws to make sure those charlatans and quacks never emerge.
We call on the Nigerian Medical Association to cooperate with the three-tiers of government to flush out fake and quack doctors off the profession in Nigeria.
The medical body must fight fake medical doctors and quacks to a standstill across the country.
The NMA must not give fake doctors like Saheed Oladiti in Osun State a breathing space to operate or go scot-free.
The NMA must resolve to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that all forms of quackery are stamped out in Nigeria.
The medical body should not hesitate to chastise its members and continually urge them to uphold the utmost profession and support the association in ridding it of all forms of quackery.
The association should embark on a massive awareness campaign and sensitization on the activities of quacks and practice of quackery in the country.
