Quack doctors on the loose

WHENEVER one visits a doctor, they expect their condition to improve, not deteriorate.

There might, however, be a lot of reasons why it might not work out as expected.

There seems to be a growing number of victims that are discovering that their condition took a turn for the worse after being attended to by quacks masquerading as doctors.

A quack doctor is an unqualified person who purports to have medical knowledge or other related skills.

For Tamina (surname withheld), it was an unforgettable experience after being treated as a guinea pig by one of these tricksters.

In fact, she went under the knife thrice after being serially misdiagnosed.

“The first time I had some abdominal pain. They did a scan and diagnosed my appendicitis as faulty. It was removed. But I did not get better. Instead, it got worse. I had to return for a review and this time around they said I had fibroids,” said Tamina as she recounted her traumatic and life-threatening experience at the hands of bogus doctors at a now-defunct private surgery in Mashonaland East.

“Again, I went under the knife. The horror was not yet over. I was later told it was my uterus that was creating complications and underwent another surgery,” she tearfully added.

This is, however, not an isolated incident. Apparently, there is a growing number of private surgeries that are operating without valid practising licences.

These facilities are either run by quack doctors or qualified but unlicensed medical practitioners.

Desperate patients are often baited using relatively lower consultation fees than registered doctors.

Also, the medication dispensed at these purported health institutions is cheaper but usually expired, close to expiring, or would have been illegally sourced.

Regulatory authorities have, however, been trying to clamp down these “businesses”.

“At least nine unregistered businesses and pharmacies have been shut down this year,” revealed Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) spokesperson Mr Shingai Gwatidzo.

Among the nine that were closed include Nites Health Shop (Epworth) and Superlink Medical Centre (Kuwadzana), GuestChem Pharmacy (Banket) and another one in Mutawatawa in Uzumba-Maramba Pfungwe district.

Most of the centres were being supervised by unqualified and unregistered personnel, among some of the transgressions.

Damage

But the damage caused by quack doctors can be irreversible.

Botched medical procedures can cause endless pain, permanent paralysis or, in worst-case scenarios, death.

Desperate patients such as injured criminals, who cannot be treated at formal health institutions without raising the interest of law enforcement agents, and pregnant women are often at the receiving end of imposters.

Fees charged by these tricksters only become exorbitant when they perform illegal procedures like abortion.

In Zimbabwe, abortion is only allowed under special circumstances, especially when the pregnancy endangers the life of the woman or if the child may be born with serious physical or mental defects.

Further, pregnancies can also be terminated if the foetus was conceived as a result of rape or incest.

The Sunday Mail Society sought to uncover some of these bogus operations after a recent tip-off.

Investigations led to a medical centre in Harare (name withheld).

Ironically, the institution is situated a stone’s throw away from a medical establishment that is among the nine facilities that were closed by MCAZ.

Pretending to be a patient, we met a supposed doctor (name withheld) at this surgery. Strangely, he did not have practising certificates or any other form of authorisation displayed as required by Health Professions Authority of Zimbabwe (HPA), which is responsible for standards, inspections, registration and licensing of health service providers.

“I am a qualified doctor and studied medicine with a local university,” he said after a casual enquiry of the anomaly.

“I will be displaying the documents soon,” he added.

His conduct throughout our brief visit at the facility was, however, questionable.

For instance, we observed him using the same syringe multiple times on different patients.

The dilapidated health facility, which is located adjacent to a beerhall, has an unkempt waiting-room, trailing ants and a poorly shielded consulting room.

A young man — ostensibly the facility’s “pharmacist” — could be seen dispensing drugs from behind a dirty-looking counter.

In-between our conversation, as we were being attended to, we enquired about an imaginary girlfriend requiring an urgent abortion.

“It will cost you US$100,” the supposed doctor confidently responded.

After a brief examination, we were told a jab needed to be administered.

We, however, queried why the same syringe was being used on all patients, to which the “doctor” unashamedly responded, “all our equipment is sterilised”.

After gathering all the information that we wanted, we later called the “doctor” for an official comment.

He unsurprisingly made an about turn. “I have never treated anyone!”

“We are only setting up equipment. I have applied for a license to practice, so maybe I will only be in a position to operate soon.”

Health expert Dr Everson Mudavanhu, a surgeon, said quack doctors are the bane of the industry.

“Sadly some individuals are masquerading as health professionals when they are not and this derails Government effort to sanitise the health sector,” he said.

Bottlenecks

The Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZiMA), the sole representative association for all medical doctors in the country, acknowledges the challenge.

Secretary-general Dr Sacrifice Chirisa said over-regulation might be partly to blame.

For instance, for one to operate as a General Practitioner (GP), they need to first register with HPA and MCAZ, have a pharmaceutical licence, get authority from a relevant local council, among numerous requirements.

“You will find that to operate a surgery, pharmacy, medical centre, there are multiple payments that need to be done to different authorities and councils,” he said, adding: “Some of the payments are outrageous. The licensing fee should be reasonable.”

ZiMA is also pushing for an affordable onestop payment system and the elimination of the multiple licensing requirements.

Clampdown

The HPA is currently planning a major offensive against the bogus operations.

“The blitz to flush out unlicensed operators was supposed to start in March but we were affected by the national lockdown.

“The plan has since been rescheduled. It is now set to be executed next month (July),” HPA secretary-general Mr Shepherd Humure said.

“We want to bring sanity to the sector by exposing malfeasance. It is illegal for health practitioners to operate without proper documents.”