Two arrested for illegally practising as physician assistants

A collaboration between the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) and the police has led to the arrest of two persons who were illegally practising as physician assistants. 

They were identified as Abdulai Abubakar Sadik, who is the clinical care coordinator of the Tamale Technical University Hospital in the Northern Region, and Richard Dzomeku, the proprietor of the Good Morning Clinic, located at Adentan New Site, in the Greater Accra Region.

They were arrested while working at the two facilities during a regulatory operation undertaken by the council between July 27 and August 7, 2020.
Sadik is said to have been practising at the Tamale Technical University Hospital for the past five years while Dzomeku has been attending to patients who patronise his clinic for the past three years.

On their arrest, Sadik claimed he has a BSc Certificate in Physician Assistantship from the Central University College, in Accra, while Dzomeku said he was a trained nurse who was undertaking a course in physician assistantship.

Operation

Briefing the Daily Graphic yesterday, the acting Registrar of the Council, Dr Divine N. Banyubala, said the exercise was in line with routine quality assurance monitoring operations conducted by the council to ascertain the registration status of practitioners and the standard of practice in various health institutions across the country.

He said on Monday July 27, 2020, during a visit to the Tamale Technical University Hospital, it was found that Sadik had not been trained and licensed to practise as a physician assistant.

Sadik was subsequently arrested with the assistance of the Northern Regional Police Command.

Dr Banyubala said Sadik's certificate had been forwarded to the Central University College for verification.

He explained that Sadik could not practise as a physician assistant because he had not taken the licentiate examination conducted by the council.

Dzomeku’s arrest

Referring to Dzomeku, Dr Banyubala said he was arrested on Friday, August, 7, 2020, when the team visited the Good Morning Clinic located at Adentan New Site.

 Dzomeku was seen busily attending to patients but preliminary investigations conducted established that he was not a registered physician assistant.

Dzomeku confirmed that he was still schooling and was yet to pass out as a physician assistant.

At the time of the arrest, Dr Banyubala said there were two patients on admission in the female ward of the clinic.

The council ensured the evacuation of the two patients to the Madina Polyclinic.

The team, with the support of the Adentan Divisional Police Command, arrested Dzomeku.