A fake medical doctor has been busted in Gombe state.

Assistant Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Henry Okwuokenye disclosed this on Monday February 28, adding that the fake doctor was reported to the council by his employer.

Okwuokenye said an investigation carried out by the council’s committee on medical quackery led to the arrest of the suspect who was providing services to clients in a private hospital in the metropolis.

Noting that the council has the data of all doctors in Nigeria, Okwuokenye urged private health facilities to do due diligence before recruiting staff.

He said;

“We had a tip-off that someone is working here with documents that are not likely to belong to him. That is why we came with the director of medical services of the state.

“Fortunately, or unfortunately, when we arrived here the doctor was on duty. So, we started some sort of interactions with him and the process given the fact that truly, he (fake doctor) was not the owner of the document.

“Whether you are trained in Nigeria or outside the country as long as you have to practice here the council will license you to function is part of our mandate. We have robust data for all doctors across the country. We can tell across the country, so we can tell that the document is cloned from another person’s document.

“For owners of private hospitals: before you recruit a doctor, you must verify the document. We have eyes everywhere in the country. If they must forge documents, they must stay away from medical practice. Removing people like this helps the health sector.”