'Make sure your doctor's for real'
David Masango
3 March 2005
The Health Professions Council of SA has urged the public to be on the look-out for bogus doctors, saying many people in both urban and rural areas could be falling prey to fraudulent medical practitioners.
The call follows the uncovering of a bogus doctor who was "treating" people in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, and the jailing of a woman in the Eastern Cape who has been masquerading as a doctor for years.
The council said that if people are unsure of a doctor's registration status, they have the right to ask any practitioner to produce his or her credit card size practising card.
Members of the public wanting to check if a doctor is registered and allowed to practise can also phone the council's call centre at (012) 338-9300/1 or e-mail webmaster@hpcsa.co.za.
"Not only do fictitious doctors bring the profession into disrepute, but also they endanger the lives of countless people they
'treat' every day", said council chief executive Boyce Mkhize.
The council keeps records of all medical practitioners, and anyone practising while not registered is breaking the law.
Source: BuaNews
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