DSS parades fake doctor

Mustapha

The Department of State Services (DSS) has paraded a man described as a fake doctor, Ibrahim Mustapha, having operated illegally under the Adamawa State government since 2015.

DSS State Director of Security, Bola Olori, paraded the suspect yesterday in Yola, the state capital.

He said Mustapha, who allegedly started his alleged fake practice as a ward attendant in Gombe State, was employed in Adamawa as a doctor with alleged forged medical certificates.

Olori said: “Preliminary investigations revealed that Mustapha holds an NBTE certificate. He perfected the act in Gombe State, where he worked as a ward attendant in several clinics.

“He was aided by a practising doctor who gave him sample copies of his NECO result, MBBS of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate and that of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) annual registration licence, all of which he forged.

“The suspect subsequently gained employment into the Adamawa State Health Management Board in October 2015 as a doctor and rose to the post of Principal Medical Officer, serving at the cottage hospitals in Mayo Belwa and Fufore.

“Prior to his arrest, the suspect, in the past five years, performed hundreds of surgical operations in several hospitals in the state.

The suspect and his accomplice have been taken into custody. They will be prosecuted after investigations.”

The DSS director did not mention the number of casualties the suspect caused, but Governor Ahmadu Fintiri was quoted on Wednesday to have accused the suspect of causing the death of 15 people.

The governor spoke during a ministerial briefing in Yola, saying a fake doctor who was employed in 2015 by the State Health Services Management Board was discovered to have attended a secondary school and only possessed a National Board for Technical Education (NABTEB) certificate.

The governor said his administration will set up a committee to fish out quack doctors in the state and bring them to justice.