PUNCH
In this feature, VICTOR AYENI examines the spate of unqualified and unlicensed medical professionals whose quackery has unleashed pain, suffering, and death on hapless citizens as the country struggles with a massive brain drain in the health sector
On a typical day, Tayo Shakirudeen gets up from his bed early, carefully donning his lab coat as he prepares to go to his clinic, Skylink Medical Centre, located at Ako-Okuta, Elepe-Ikorodu in Lagos.
To the residents of the area where the facility is situated, the 37-year-old was a ‘Medical Director’, with six staff members in his employ and was frequently consulted by patients who sought treatment for various ailments.
What many of those who beat the path of the bush to his clinic did not imagine was that the native of Abeokuta, Ogun State, was astute in the act of duplicity, pretending to be a qualified medical doctor.
For three years, Shakirudeen maintained this facade, seamlessly blending into the hospital environment and successfully convincing everyone around him that he was a certified medical professional.
But early this year, Shakirudeen’s carefully constructed edifice of deceit collapsed on him like a ton of bricks when one of the patients on whom he had performed a surgery returned three months later to his facility with the police.
Acting on an intelligence report from the Elepe community, last month, operatives of the Zonal Anti-Piracy Unit under the leadership of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Olatoye Durosinmi, arrested the father of three for operating in the office of a medical doctor under false certification.
During a search of the suspect’s clinic, a team of detectives recovered two suspected forged certificates – Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, and Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria – both of which he confessed to having obtained electronically.
The suspect also revealed that his actual educational qualification is the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination which he obtained from Majidun Grammar School, Lagos.
Responding to questions from journalists, Shakirudeen said, “I’ve been practicing as a doctor for three years and I own Skylink Medical Centre where we give general treatments for malaria, typhoid, and infections. I also carried out appendicitis surgery.
“This is the first (appendicitis surgery) I tried but I have worked somewhere before as a Nursing Assistant at a hospital located in Ojokoro, along Ikorodu Road. I worked there for two and a half years before I opened Skylink
“That MBBS certificate in Medicine and Surgery from Obafemi Awolowo University (Osun State) was forged. Nobody taught me but I used to help my boss then when he was performing surgery.”
Describing the steps a doctor is expected to before and during a surgery, the suspect mentioned “the checking of vital signs and an abdominal scan and after the confirmation, you conduct a Packed Cell Volume and you prepare the patient for the surgery.
“You clean the patient’s stomach with an antiseptic and water. So after that, you give an anesthetic injection before starting the surgery. During the surgery, you use a surgical blade to dissect the stomach. If it’s the appendix, after opening the stomach, then you cut the appendix.
“After cutting the stomach, you suture the appendix and suture the fat, and the skin, then you pack it with gauze and apply plaster.”
Commenting on these remarks made by Shakirudeen, a medical professional, Dr Donald Aniekwe, noted, “Only non-medics will be impressed by what he’s saying. It’s very easy to spot a fake doctor in a conversation.”
Recounting what led to his arrest, Shakirudeen added, “After performing a surgery, the patient came with the police after three months to arrest me. There were no complications (after the surgery) and I often charge N150,000. I have six workers.
“I regret every bit of my actions and if there is anyone that is still hiding somewhere and doing the same thing, they should please desist from it.”
While the suspect was paraded, Durosinmi noted that the facility had been sealed for further investigation, adding that out of the six staff in the hospital, two were trained nurses while four were amateurs (auxiliary nurses).
“He worked as a Nursing Assistant at Fabo Medical Centre in the Majidun area of Lagos before establishing his hospital and he has successfully carried out three surgeries: two Caesarean Sections and one appendicitis, during his three years of unlawful practice as a medical practitioner,” the AIG added.
Pregnant patient dies
At about the same time Shakirudeen was arrested, another suspected quack doctor, Saheed Oladiti, was arrested by the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps over the death of a pregnant woman in Ororuwo town.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the 32-year-old SSCE holder allegedly delivered the woman of a baby, after which she developed complications leading to her eventual demise.
The spokesperson for the Osun NSCDC, Kehinde Adeleke, disclosed that the suspect had been operating an unlicensed clinic in Ororuwo for over six years and two months.
Adeleke also revealed that the suspect was training medical personnel at the cost of N5,000 per trainee.
The NSCDC spokesperson added, “According to him, the pregnant woman could not continue her antenatal care at her previous hospital because she had a misunderstanding with her husband. The self–acclaimed doctor said he checked her blood pressure which was low and gave her some drugs. He thereafter asked her to come back whenever she fell into labour.
“On Thursday, April 18, 2024, the woman began to experience labour symptoms and was in the hospital, where she delivered a baby. The victim developed some complications shortly after and was later rushed to a nearby licensed hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.”
Proliferation of quacks
