16th August, 2013
Ayodeji Dedeigbo & Ekene Obidike
Two suspected quack medical doctors were on Friday paraded by the Lagos State Police Command at its headquarters in Ikeja, southwest Nigeria.
They were arrested for operating an unlicensed hospital at Omotoba Street, Unity Estate, Iba, Lagos.
The suspects, 39-year-old Gabriel Onyema Ihejiero, and Nwankwo Stephen, employed as doctor by Ihejiero, were arrested at a hospital named ‘Care Hospital’ located at 1B Omotoba Street, Unity Estate, Iba-Lagos.
According to the police, on 26 July, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Damian Okoro, who is the Area ‘E’ Commander, Festac Town, received a distress call that some fake doctors were operating in Iba area and they were arrested.
In his confessional statement, Stephen said: “The MD (Ihejiero) is my friend. He came to me for an advice, then I suggested to him that we should start a hospital business and he agreed.
“I only worked for two years in his hospital before I stopped. I was trained as an auxiliary nurse in Ondo State for two years.”
The police said their investigation revealed that the two suspects never attended any medical or nursing school and they have conducted over 80 deliveries for pregnant women in the hospital.
While corroborating the Police report that they have carried out series of surgical operations, Stephen said: “I have delivered over 90 pregnant women and they were all successful.”
In his own confession, Ihejiero, who claimed to be selling bond paper in Ghana before he began the hospital business, said: “I own the hospital located at Iba. Though I am not a medical doctor, I employed a doctor with two years medical experience.”
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Braide, while speaking at the parade, advised the public not to patronise unlicensed hospitals and quack doctors.