Quack Doctors arrested in Delta State

Africa most populous country Nigeria, health system is ranked 197th out of 200 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the health system in Nigeria so depleted and underfunded by the government that it cannot meet  half the demands of its citizens. Basically, poor citizens are left to cater for their medical needs in their own way, while the good hospitals are for the rich.

Nigeria’s health system has deteriorated to the extent that quack doctors are making money from helpless Nigerians on daily basis. The illegal ‘quack’ doctors who are not qualified even to uncover the syringe have enriched themselves exploiting helpless Nigerians.

According to investigation carried out by Al jazeera investigative reporters, Rosemary Nwaebuni, a reporter who lives and works in Nigeria’s Delta State, and Anas Aremeryaw Anas, an award-winning journalist from Ghana, it’s quite horrible what people go through in the hands of the so called doctors.

The two agents are on a mission to stamp out fake doctors who have made many people suffer for their wickedness, especially women, who have died trying to abort their pregnancy, they are calling out on authorities to do more in curbing the outbreak of ‘quack’ doctors in the country.

However, they team up with one Professor Alex Dodoo, who monitors patient safety for the World Health Organisation, in West Africa, and has dealt with quacks for years. He says

“If one is not licensed by the state, anything that one does is illegal. Going to see them is dangerous. Period. Would you sit in an Aeroplane where the pilot says ‘OK hello, I’m the pilot, but I’ve not been licensed!’ No way! You put your health at risk and you can die.”

However, the two reporters were aware of the risk involved so they disguise as  patients.One of the reporters, Rosemary, was offered treatment for typhoid and malaria (even though she is perfectly healthy) and an illegal abortion (even though she is not pregnant) by quack Doctors who had no medical qualifications whatsoever, but pretended to be experienced and licensed practitioners.

In one remarkable sting, the Africa Investigates team rented a house and invited local quacks to come and do ‘home visits’. The ‘patient’ was again Rosemary, who – with the help of a qualified medic – had learned some symptoms that any genuine doctor would immediately recognize as indications of heart disease. Instead, one after another, the ‘quacks’ turned up and after cursory examinations wrongly claimed that Rosemary was suffering from typhoid and malaria (two commonly cited conditions) for which she need expensive drugs that only they could prescribe.

What the fake doctors did not know was that, the house was rigged with secret closed circuit cameras and that their every move was being scrutinized by a genuine medical practitioner. The doctor was local to the area and asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, but he was unequivocal.

Dr,Alfred Ebiakofa, a senior medical officer working for the Nigeria Ministry of Health, said-
“This is absolute quackery,” he said of one of the fakes. “All he did was just glance at the patient and then made a diagnosis and prescribed medications.To take all barrage of medications for this patient with malaria and typhoid. This is wrong, this is all wrong. These drugs are poison. They cause real damage.”

In conclusion a husband and wife were also arrested for using a bar for surgeries, while the other one was arrested when he was about to operate on one of the investigating reporters, Anas Aremeryaw Anas. However, the three fake Doctors have been  arrested by the Nigeria police force.