EASTERN CAPE NEWS - The Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit in Queenstown have arrested a 39-year-old woman and her assistant (32) in Molteno for fraud, theft and contravening the Medicines Act 101 of 1965.
The investigation, conducted with the help of officials from the Eastern Cape Health Department, brought to light that the woman was practicing without a licence, and was not registered with the Health Professional Council of South Africa.
According to Warrant Officer Bonnie Nxumalo of the Hawks, the woman has been practising as a doctor in Molteno since September last year, dispensing medication to patients as well as sick notes, without any medical qualifications. She was arrested on Thursday 21 January after officials posing as patients visited her practice for medical consultations. The woman was caught red-handed when she gave them medication as well as sick notes.
The practice numbers on the sick notes did not correspond and the medication in the surgery featured state stamps from different health centres in the Eastern Cape. Police seized documents and medication and new and used needles with an estimated value of more than R700 000.
The suspects will appear in the Queenstown Magistrate's Court on Monday 25 January.
Some of the medicine the bogus doctor allegedly dispensed:
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