BULAWAYO – Taurai Prosper Vanhuvaone, the fake medical doctor who caused a stir at Mpilo Hospital when he prescribed Lacto for a heart ailment, appeared before a Bulawayo magistrate on Thursday facing charges of contravening the Health Professions Act and two counts of fraud.
The cheeky 29-year-old resident of Bulawayo’s Upper Rangemore suburb, alias Prosper Mpofu, was also charged for allegedly duping a nurse aid student of US$1,600 after promising to secure some attachment for her at Mpilo Hospital.
Bulawayo magistrate Nomagugu Maphosa remanded him to this coming Monday for bail hearing.
Vanhuvaone did not have legal representation when he appeared in court.
Before his arrest, Vanhuvaone appeared to have deceived some Mpilo Hospital staff into believing he was genuinely a qualified medical doctor.
His luck however ran out when he wrote a bizarre prescription containing references to Lacto and fruits, including apples and grapes, for a patient thereby inviting scrutiny over his credentials as a qualified doctor.
In earlier interviews with the media, Thabani Ndlovu, whose wife has a heart condition, narrated how the couple was allegedly duped by Vanhuvaone.
“We came to the hospital looking for him, but he wasn’t around. He told us to wait, so we joined the outpatient queue. When he arrived, he took us to a room where hospital authorities arrested him,” he said.
In 2022, Vanhuvaone, using the same alias, appeared in court charged with assault and claimed to be a fifth-year medical student.
