Two alleged fake doctors were recently apprehended by Igede youths in Benue State. Before then, the two “doctors” had a field day sending their patients to their graves.
However, luck ran out on them when on Thursday, July 8, 2021, youths under the aegis of Igede Youth Council (IYC), fished out the first culprit, Emmanuel Imoha.
The second quack doctor, Bryan Ogaa, was apprehended on Friday, July 9, 2021, by the same youths, who then handed both men to the police.
A leader of IYC, Comrade Andyson Iji Egbodo, who led the youths to arrest both men, told our correspondent in Makurdi, that Imoha, a quack surgeon, had been operating a clinic in Okoyongo community of Oju Local Government Area without the slightest suspicion by the locals that he was not qualified to do so.
Egbodo explained that the bubble burst few days ago when Imoha opened the abdomen of a five-year-old boy in a surgery attempt and then let out a loud cry for help as the situation went out of his control.
“We heard that he shouted for help from his theatre while carrying out a surgery on the boy. The intestines had gorged out and he didn’t know what to do other than to scream.
“So, he (Imoha), alongside the boy’s mother, rushed him to the general hospital where we later went to see the boy’s condition for ourselves.
“We confirmed the story, so we apprehended the culprit and the police interrogated him and found out he does not have the requisite training.
“He said he attended the College of Health Technology in Osun State but could not present a certificate. So, how can a graduate of health technology who should be certified a community extension health worker go and operate a clinic? Even if he were certified as a community health worker, he is still not expected to carry out surgery. He can’t even run a dispensary not to talk of owning a clinic where he subjected people to surgery. And there were no checks by the authority. We even discovered that a lot of people have been killed by this man while performing surgery on them. ‘’
The youth leader added that shortly after the first quack surgeon was handed to the police in Oju, there were rumours milling the rural town about activities of other fake doctors.
He said, “We (IYC) now extended our surveillance operations to other areas and began to investigate a lot of small-small clinics around and we discovered another yesterday (Friday), just 24 hours after the first apprehension, one quack doctor, Bryan Ogaa, from Ohuma, Ukpa, who was promptly apprehended by the youths.
“This one transfused B+ blood to a patient who has O+ blood. When the patient reacted and it was getting bad, the fake doctor, with the relatives of the patient, rushed him to the general hospital, and shortly after, the victim died. It’s exactly two weeks ago at the General Hospital, Oju. Medical records are available with the police.
“After his arrest, the man confessed to the police that he doesn’t have the requisite medical qualifications or training to operate a health facility. He confessed carrying out the said blood transfusion that led to the death of his victim.
“Sadly, the clinics they operate don’t even have names. We got to the facilities to see that there were no names on them.”
Egbodo expressed optimism that there were high chances of survival of the five-year-old victim of the first quack doctor as medical personnel at the general hospital did their best in carrying out a fresh surgery on the child.
he said, “The boy is recuperating. I saw him last night (Friday) during a visit to the hospital.”
According to him, over the years, effort has been made by relevant authorities to curtail proliferation of illegal medical facilities, but observed that the current surge needed to be taken seriously to avert tragedies.
Egbodo further said the IYC, with the support from security operatives, would extend its searchlight to neigbouring Obi LGA to fish out all those operating illegal health facilities.
Contacted, the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Joseph Ngbea, decried the increasing activities of quacks in the rural areas, adding that his team would step up surveillance to nib the trend in the bud.
Dr Ngbea told our correspondent that the activities of the quacks in Benue appeared to be on the increase which made him to direct the ministry to monitor hospitals and clinics.
he said, “We have consultants for Zones A, C and B (senatorial districts). They have been going round to ensure we don’t have such practices in Benue.”
The spokesperson for Benue Police Command, DSP Catherine Anene, said she was yet to receive a report on the arrests.
