Doc found guilty of forging signature for meds
A local doctor, who was employed at Rethabile Clinic, was found guilty on six counts of fraud in the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Monday, 3 September.
POLOKWANE – Dr Adekule Adefila was arrested at the clinic by members of the Hawks’ Commercial Unit on 12 July 2016 and was charged with fraud, forgery and theft.
His arrest followed a tip-off that he had fraudulently acquired morphine for more than two years by using another doctor’s details.
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He reportedly forged another doctor’s signature and used a Department of Health letterhead.
After his arrest, he was released on R5 000 bail.
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State Prosecutor, Andisa Mudau, called four witnesses to testify, including Dr John McCutcheon, who worked in the same section at Rethabile Clinic with Adefila and whose signature was forged in order to obtain the medication.
“Our consulting rooms were adjacent to one another. Adefila worked full time at Rethabile Clinic and I worked part-time – four hours a week – after my retirement. Medicine at Rethabile Clinic is kept and dispensed at the health centre and it is extremely rare that any patient needs medicine from a private pharmacy.
“There is thus little to no need for prescriptions to be written for patients to go to private pharmacies,” McCutcheon testified.
He further testified that if a prescription was needed, doctors from the health centre would use the departmental letterhead, such as Adefila appears to have used, to prescribe medication.
“The morphine which Adefila had prescribed in my name is a schedule six drug and is used for the relief of severe pain. It is highly addictive.
“Pharmacies are required to keep special registers of schedule six drugs which they dispense. In our case, we prescribe on our Patient Treatment Sheet which remains in the patient’s file and the treatment sheet doesn’t go to private pharmacies.
On 24 June 2016, a pharmacist alerted me that Adefila regularly collects morphine for a patient or patients. The prescriptions were thought to have been written by me and there was a suspicion he might be addicted to this substance,” McCutcheon said.
McCutcheon explained he visited the pharmacy in question and they provided him with copies of four prescriptions, one of which bears a forged signature and his stamp with his name and qualifications. The stamp was kept in an unlocked drawer of his desk in his consulting room.
“I have never prescribed this medication for anyone. I don’t know the two patients whose names appear on the sample prescriptions. In the four prescription copies, two patients’ names appear with a diagnosis of different cancers. I have never consulted these patients and it is possible that they do not exist,” McCutcheon said. Sentencing was scheduled for 13 December. Adefila is out on bail until then.
