HARARE – A bogus doctor treated patients for at least six months at Zimbabwe’s biggest hospital without detection, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Admire Chisi, a 25-year-old Zimre Park man, was rumbled by health staff who grew concerned over his “medical proficiency”, the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals said in a statement.
Chisi posed as a physician registrar at a time during which doctors were on strike over poor pay and lack of Personal Protective Equipment to keep themselves safe from the coronavirus.
Hospital authorities were scrambling to review all the patients that were seen by Chisi, while also seeking to find out if he was planted at the hospital by the government or he was just a conman.
“On October 20, 2020, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals discovered that the Accident and Emergency Department had been infiltrated by a fake medical doctor who posed as a physician registrar,” the hospital said in a statement.
“The matter was discovered after our vigilant casualty staff doubted his medical proficiency and made some inquiries. The suspect has been handed over to the police who are now handling the matter.”
The hospital said “people with malicious intentions can take advantage of the vastness of our hospital and its complex systems to cause various prejudices.”
A union of doctors said Chisi’s success in tricking the hospital system was an indictment on the government.
“This guy is a danger to society, we don’t know how many patients received unprofessional treatment from him,” said Dr Norman Matara of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights.
He added: “A broken health system that allows such to happen for over half a year is even more dangerous to the Zimbabwean public.”
Matara said he knew of an approach made by Chisi to a surgeon to carry out an operation on a “relative” as a favour – apparently not unusual among doctors.
The surgeon later became aware that Chisi had charged the fake “relative” for the same procedure he wanted performed for free.
“That suggests he was in it for the money,” Matara said.
