Fake doctor performs surgery

A man who posed as a medical doctor and practiced in a number of hospitals and clinics in the Volta Region is in the grip of the Akatsi police.

Michael Acheampong, 28, was arrested on Thursday after he had performed surgery on a hernia patient, James Dogbe at Noggar Clinic, a private clinic at Akatsi where he had worked for four months. The patient developed complications after the operation.

Disclosing this to the Times on Thursday, a police source said Acheampong, had earlier worked as a medical doctor at Comboni Hospital in the South Tongu District for four months after introducing himself as a medical practitioner to the hospital's authorities.

He absconded when he realised that the hospital's authorities were becoming suspicious of his capability. He then moved to work in various private clinics in the region.

The source said anytime he realised that his employers were getting suspicious of him, he absconded.

Luck however ran out on him on February 5, when he was arrested after a surgery he performed on a hernia patient went bad. The patient's condition got worse after the surgery.

The source said the Medical and Dental Council, acting on information about Acheampong's activities, sent a retired medical superintendent from Accra to Noggar Clinic to keep surveillance on him.

It was when the hernia surgery got complicated and Acheampong attempted to abscond that he was arrested.

After investigations he was arraigned before the Akatsi District Magistrate's Court and was remanded in police custody pending further investigations.

His plea was not taken and is to reappear on February 25.

The court presided over by Mr Daniel Norkpoh ordered the police to conduct further investigations to ascertain the extend of damage and the number of patients who have died as a result of the accused person's practice.