By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
A job seeker, one Abawulor Omenka who applied for employment as a Medical Officer at the Covenant University Medical Centre, Ota in Sango area of Ogun State was discovered to be a fake doctor and subsequently arrested by the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners
It was gathered that Omenka had applied for the position of a Medical Officer and reportedly presented fake credentials, which included a photocopy of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria registration certificate issued in 2015.
The 35-year-old suspect also allegedly presented a certificate from the Benue State University where he claimed to have obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, and graduated with a Second Class Upper Division.
It was reported that the suspect, who works as an auxiliary nurse at some private hospitals, was caught during a job interview held at the Covenant University Medical Centre while being scrutinised by three doctors about his credentials.
Omenka’s cover was blown open after he failed to justify why his MDCN registration number was the same as those who got the certificate four decades ago.
A source told our correspondent that the suspect during interrogation confessed to having obtained the fake certificates from racketeers at Oluwole in Lagos State.
According to the source , “The man first went to Covenant University Health Centre last week to apply for the post of Medical Officer.
“The MD of the centre, Dr. Ademola Adebanjo, suspected foul play and scheduled him for an interview this week.
“He then reached out to Dr. Kayode Oyelade, the Chairman of ANPMP, Ogun State chapter about his suspicions. So Dr. Oyelade and Dr. Akin Oyejoko, an executive of the association sat in the interview panel yesterday to be able to get to the root of the matter. That was how he was nabbed.”
The Chairman, Association of Private Medical Practitioners in Ogun State, Dr. Kayode Oyelade said that Omenka was caught after doctors who conducted the interview discovered he did not have full knowledge of the profession.
He said the doctors that drilled the suspect during the job interview, discovered many discrepancies in the credentials presented.
Oyelade disclosed that when some of the hospitals where the suspect claimed to have worked were contacted, Omenka was identified as a health assistant by his former employers.
He said, “The man actually applied to work as a medical officer at Covenant University Medical Centre where students, staff and some residents of the community go for medical treatment.
“Immediately they got his application, and the medical director discovered that the CV and certificates presented were questionable, being a medical doctor himself, he contacted me. I told him to invite the guy for an interview. The interview was scheduled and it was conducted on Wednesday at the office of the MD.
“We made the guy very comfortable and we started asking him a series of questions. He gave us a background history of himself and all the places he had worked. We now asked him if he attended a university, and he said he went to Benue State University.
“We asked him about the courses he did in the university, and he was just saying things he knew nothing about. We discovered in the course of our interview that he has an idea because he has worked in some hospitals as an auxiliary nurse.
“In fact, he had worked at the hospital owned by some of our colleagues that we know. We put a call across to them and two of them actually confirmed that they knew him very well. I told them he was trying to apply as a medical officer, and they told me he worked with them as an auxiliary nurse or better put, as a hospital assistant.”
On how he was caught, Oyelade explained, “What gave him up were the certificates he presented. Omenka presented a photocopied certificate he claimed to have obtained from the university with a Second Class Upper Division in Medicine and Surgery.
“If you are conversant with a medical certificate, you will know there is nothing like grade. When you are given a certificate as a doctor, it will just be specified that you have passed when you certify the examiner. There is nothing like first class or second class. Our certificate is not graded. Immediately, he presented that, and we knew it was fake.
“He also presented a certificate he claimed to have got from MDCN, we saw that one and we just laughed. The registration number is 11,641. I graduated 32 years ago from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and my number is 20, 815. And someone who claimed to have graduated in 2015 is 11,000, which means he graduated before me. I am sure that some of the people with that number are dead now.
“We called one of the doctors again and he told us that this is not the first time he would be involved in such a thing.
”Oyelade further revealed that the suspect had been handed over to the police at Onipanu Police Station, Ota in Ogun State.
He added that the association would ensure the suspect is charged to court and made to face the full wrath of the law to serve as a deterrent to others.
Reacting, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Ogun State Chapter, Dr. Azim Kunle Ashimi advised heads of hospitals, both private and public to be very vigilant when employing doctors, adding that proper background checks should be carried out.
He equally reiterated the commitment of the ANPMP and Nigerian Medical Association in Ogun State to collaborate with the state ministry of health to stamp out quackery in the state.
