I have been charged! Owner of Obengfo Hospital tells his story
Owner of the Obengfo Hospital at Weija in Accra, Dr. Dominic Obeng-Andoh has been charged by the Criminal Investigations Department of the police for advertising medical services.
Dr. Obeng-Andoh was handed to the police CID by the Food and Drugs Authority for questioning, following his alleged advertisement of services at his hospital.
Even though the police CID is yet to provide details of the charges, Dr. Obeng-Andoh confirmed to Joy News on Monday that he has formally been charged.
“Yes I was charged [by the CID for] with advertising diseases that according them I had medicine for,” he said.
Dr. Obeng-Andoh however denied the charge. “I have never advertised any medicine to cure any disease,” he said, adding emphatically that he has not also advertised his hospital in any media outlet.
Even though he found the investigations “petty”, he promised to cooperate with the police.
Last week, Joy News' investigations revealed that Dr Dominic Obeng-Andoh is not licensed to do plastic surgery. Investigations also revealed his surgeries have led some patients with life threatening complications.
But when asked if he has a surgical license, he shot back, “I don't know whether I need a surgical license [to operate]; all I want to tell you is that I am a medical doctor”. He nonetheless told Joy News he is aware surgery is a specialized field.
All the same, he stressed that one does not need to be “a consultant to do surgery, just understand it, you don't need it”. Dr. Obeng-Andoh relied on what he claimed “is a fact” that fresh graduates from medical schools are doing surgery at some health facilities across the country and demanded that those doctors are recalled if his practice is being considered unlawful.
To justify his operation, Dr. Obeng-Andoh maintained that he has a “hands-on training” in Florida, USA, for liposuction but would not state for how long he underwent that training but Joy News gathered it was a a two-week training.
The Dental and Medical Council which suspended him in 2008 has also instituted investigations into his practice following the Joy News' reports, but he has indicated that he is unenthused about that. “They can investigate me, I have sent my certificate to them and they haven't rejected that. I am licensed as a medical doctor,” he underscored.
When probed further whether the Council has given him the green light to operate in Ghana, he was emphatic with his answer, “I do not need that kind of special certification [from the Council]”.
But he observed that “It is immoral to do procedures that I do not have training for”. He reminded, “I have the training and the equipment for it.”
When put to him that there have been complaints of surgeries that went bad, and at times resulting in death, at his facility, Dr Obeng-Adnoh retorted: “I can say on authority without any shadow of doubt that there is no single doctor in the world who performs surgeries and has not had one complication or the other.”
Meanwhile, the CEO of the Bureau of Public Safety, Nana Yaw Akwaada offered to correct Dr Obeng-Andoh that some licensed practitioners go out to do things in the “wrong manner”, citing the case of Michael Jackson's doctor who is currently standing trial.
“Let's not be misled by Dr. Obeng-Andoh that he has received training meant that he dealt well with his patients.”
He said the Bureau has at least spoken to one of his patients who is now a victim of his practice and has for about seven years been living an “uncomfortable” life.
He has therefore urged persons who have been traumatized after visiting Dr. Obeng-Andoh's facility to contact the Bureau to enable them “take up” such cases.