Department of Health implements new measures to stop bogus doctors

KZN MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, has ordered its health district directors to inform health institutions to stop direct intakes of students to avoid any further security breaches by people posing as medical interns.

All placements will now be conducted by the provincial human resources department, who will verify the credentials of staff.

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Simelane-Zulu said her department has beefed up screening and verification measures relating to interns and allied health students for experiential training, after two recent incidents of bogus interns working at KZN hospitals were uncovered.

Simelane-Zulu commended the acting chief executive officer of Nkonjeni Hospital in the Zululand district for proactively alerting the authorities about a man posing as a medical student, which led to his arrest last Monday.

Phumlani Magudulela (24) pretended to be a fifth-year medical student. He produced a student card and a ‘professor’ telephonically confirmed his credentials, after which he was allowed to shadow a senior doctor at the hospital.

‘According to hospital management, Magudulela never worked without supervision and was not allowed to prescribe medication,’ Simelane-Zulu said.

He was arrested and charged with fraud after police received complaints about his disappearance with a sum of R40 000 that he had borrowed from various Nkonjeni Hospital staffers.

Preliminary police investigations revealed he had committed similar crimes in Mamelodi East (Pretoria) where he worked as a medical doctor.

Police said he was also wanted by Secunda SAPS in Mpumalanga for buying a car with false documents. He appeared in court, but skipped bail.

Simelane-Zulu said a similar case earlier this year involving a bogus female intern doctor, was still under investigation.

‘A young woman posing as a Wits University medical student and reportedly had access to three healthcare facilities at various times, was arrested and the case is still under investigation.

‘We realise that our effort of streamlining the process of taking in student interns, left some loopholes which criminals have exploited.

‘We are now changing our systems so that they are watertight. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow unqualified persons to have access to our patients.

‘We have agreed that from now on, students who need to do their practical internships will have to follow a rigorous authentication and verification process so that, at all times, we deal with genuine people,’ Simelane-Zulu said.

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