BOGUS DOCTOR ARRESTED AT GOVT HOSPITAL

Richard Mugisha (C) being escorted by plain clothes police officers upon arrival at the Mbabane police station after his appearance at the magistrates court yesterday. (Pics: Mduduzi Mngomezulu)

MBABANE – Some patients at the Mbabane Government Hospital who required surgical procedures were operated on by an unqualified individual masquerading as a doctor for three weeks before he was caught.

Richard Mugisha was discovered to be a bogus doctor after senior officials raised concerns on the way he was treating some of the patients.
When applying for the job, he submitted a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery Certificate to the Ministry of Health which he claimed he received from the University of Mbaraba in Uganda.

Before he was posted to the Mbabane Government Hospital he was given a provisional registration while the ministry was still investigating the authenticity of his academic qualifications as per procedure.
Ever since he arrived in the country Mugisha was staying at Jacana Lodge in Mbabane where government was also footing his bills.
He was given a two year renewable contract.

It is reported that even the nurses were unable to read some of the medical reports he had compiled after having treated patients and this raised more suspicions.
Mugisha is said to have raised more suspicions after he prescribed a wrong medication for a diabetic patient.
The matter was eventually reported to Doctor Velelephi Okello who is the Deputy Director of Health Services who then instituted investigations.
Doctor Okello said when engaging any doctor, they first placed him on three months provisional registration while they investigate the authenticity of his qualification.

She  said while doing the investigations she received a report from a senior medical officer at the Mbabane Government Hospital who raised concerns on the way Mugisha was conducting his duties.
Doctor Okello said the senior medical officer at the hospital informed her that there was something amiss with the way Mugisha conducted his duties.

Monitor

“They informed me that they were not satisfied with the way Mugisha was doing his job. I then asked them to monitor him and further make sure that he was not left alone to attend to a patient. I further ordered them to double check whenever he attended to a patient,” she stated.
Doctor Okello said her first step during the investigations was to call the registrar of the university where Mugisha claimed to have studied.
“It was during my conversation with the Registrar of the university that it emerged that the certificates were forged,” she said.
She said the registrar of Mbaraba University in Uganda confirmed that the academic certificates were forged.

Doctor Okello stated that it was further discovered that the academic certificates belonged to a doctor who is practising in Uganda.
“I then contacted the owner of the certificates who told me that he was practising in Uganda. The matter was then reported to the police and the bogus doctor was eventually arrested and charged with fraud,” she stated.

She said the Ministry of Health always made sure that before a person was hired as a doctor he was vetted.
 Doctor Okello said they always investigate the authenticity of the academic certificates of a person who wanted to be hired as a doctor before he was engaged.

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