Quack doctor arrested at Wapuli in N/Region

The Ghana Medical and Dental Council, in collaboration with the police, has arrested a quack doctor who has converted his house into a clinic at Wapuli in the Saboba District in the Northern Region.

Omega Timothy, suspected to be in his early 40s, is said to have practised for an unspecified number of years.

He is also alleged to have operated an unlicensed drug store in his house where he sold drugs to unsuspecting members of the community.

Briefing

Briefing journalists in Accra on Tuesday, the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council, Dr Eli Kwasi Atikpui, said investigations by officials of the council showed that some individuals who patronised the services of Omega, popularly known as ‘Dr’ in the area, had developed various degrees of complications.

Some of the victims whose cases had become complicated were said to have been referred by Omega to the Ghana Health Service clinic in the town and other health facilities in Yendi, Chereponi or Saboba. Some of those cases were said to have ended in fatalities.

Dr  Atikpui said the council received information about the activities of the suspect who was allegedly attending to sick people in his house and also moving from house to house in some of the villages in the Saboba District and its surrounding communities.

He indicated that when the council checked its registry of licensed doctors, it was established that there was no practitioner either in the register for dentists or medical practitioners by the name Omega Timothy.

Investigations

A team from the Complaints and Investigations Unit of the council was, therefore, dispatched to the community to establish the truth or otherwise of the information received.

According to him, the team made worrying discoveries when it found that some of the patrons of Omega’s services had various degrees of complications.

“People who went to Omega to seek treatment for some illnesses ended up being infected with different diseases which were either incurable or they ended up spending more to treat their ill health,” he said.

Unknown to Omega, the team monitored his activities while he attended to sick persons in his residence.

On the day of the arrest, one of the investigators posed as a sick person and waited for Omega to return from one of his medical outreaches at about 12 p.m.

The other investigators watched Omega as he prescribed medications, including Artemether Lumefantrine and Diclofenac capsules without conducting any medical examination.

The team later lodged a complaint against Omega with the police at Wapuli, leading to the arrest of the suspect.

When Omega was arrested, he could not provide any documents to show where he had trained as a doctor and when he started practising.